Woman's Best Friend
by sugarsweet pie
Summary: Inuyasha & Sesshomaru, under Naraku's spell, wake up as common dogs in the 21st century & meet up with Kagome & Rin in a pet store, 2 single, college teens sharing an apartment together. Can they return to normal? Will love spark? Full summ inside
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anything of the sort, but it wouldn't hurt for _Santa_ to stuff in my stocking a permit that said I did, now would it?

Full summary:

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru chase after Naraku to kill him, each with their own reasons to do so. By controlling Kikyo and the Sacred Jewel, Naraku is able to subdue them in their last encounter, as well as turning them into real-life, defenseless, common dogs with the help of a spell. Now, over five hundred years later they wake up from their deep slumber and find that they are not in Kansas anymore-- I mean, the Feudal Era. With new technologies and modernism meeting them wherever they turn, how will they survive? That is—if they manage to put up with each other first. Luckily they have a chance encounter with Kagome and Rin at a pet store, two single, college teens who share an apartment together. After taking them home, however, the girls notice strange things going on and not soon after find themselves staring into the golden orbs of two silver-haired strangers…

The girls find that both their bundle of love and their true love all came from a pet store.

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**Fanfic Story: Woman's Best Friend**

**Prologue**

"Damn it, Sesshomaru! I _said,_ get out of my way!" Inuyasha raced alongside his half brother with alarming speed, both in an attempt to be the first to overcome their common enemy.

Even amidst the turmoil, a calm, but cold voice answered him back. "You will not interfere; this is my fight." With that, Sesshomaru gained advantage and charged towards Naraku who was currently in the air, his Tokijin pointing towards the demon's neck.

The half demon with a spider burn on his back laughed inwardly at the two. _Their downfall shall be easy if they continue to fight like this_, he thought. He easily blocked all of Sesshomaru's swings of the sword, grinning maliciously at the stone-cold face. He had been able to tick off both brothers with ease, and was now enjoying their bitter revenge.

Inuyasha scowled. No one else but him could have the glory of squishing that spider. He and Sesshomaru had arrived around the same time at Naraku's fortress and, after defeating his worthless lackeys, had reached their true goal. Inuyasha disliked being close to his brother, but just a bit less than he hated to stand in front of the being that had made his love betray him; and the whole world.

Yes, Kikyo was somewhere near the lands on which they fought, but Inuyasha couldn't seem to track her scent. Asking his brother for help was out of the question, mostly because he knew that the youkai would give a damn about him and his relationship with her or any other human whatsoever. Inuyasha decided he'd give Sesshomaru all the time he wanted with Naraku, believing he alone could not give him the finishing blow and would end up letting that victory roll into Inuyasha's hands anyways, and took off to rummage throughout the shattered wood laying about, all which was left of Naraku's hideout after the fight had begun, only an hour or two before. He leaped about from one place to the other, forgetting all about the fight at hand, searching for a glimpse of anything related to the priestess.

"Hm. No matter how much you try, Sesshomaru, you shall never defeat me! I've grown in power since last we met." A sly, malignant grin spread across Naraku's face as he kept blocking each and every one of Sesshomaru's thrusts. He then took the moment to slash out at his opponent's chest, making him hurl towards the ground with blinding speed. Sesshomaru had lost track for a second but instantly recovered his balance with a black flip, landing gracefully on his two feet. He held his head down, angered at the fact that this—man—had dared to strike him like that. He grinded his teeth and looked up at his foe, enraged that that wasn't his only committed fault.

_Sesshomaru's mind instantly went back to the scenes where he had first met the spider demon, in a white baboon suit on the edge of the road. His hidden face tried to fill him in on ways to kill Inuyasha for once and for all, just because he had found out that the brothers disliked each other and were bound to settle their differences like common, fully-grown men/demons always did: a fight to the death._

_In the end, Sesshomaru dismissed him, stating that he knew of the evil this treacherous man was up to and that, in quoting the demon lord, "This Sesshomaru will have no more to do with the likes of you. I have no need of your services or anything you might want to offer; I know of your devious plans and you will not use me to do them for you." _

_Surely the baboon-clothed man was steaming in anger, but he did have to give the dog demon credit for discovering his plans to use him only as a pawn—Naraku intended to get rid of Kikyo, the one who guarded the precious Jewel of Four Souls, a very valuable item that every man, beast and youkai wanted in their possession. Seeing that killing the young priestess wasn't in his best interests, he offered to take her as far away as possible from the jewel as he could. After days of spying, he learned that another demon often followed her as well—only difference was, this young one had fallen in love with the girl, and vice versa. Now Naraku, being the male that he was had too, discovered feelings for her but knew he would rather enjoy the company of the jewel for all eternity than to have a woman to tend to his needs. However, he sought out a way to have both and kill two birds with the same stone. But the task would have to be strategic enough to lure that meddlesome lovey-dovey hanyou out of the way, first._

_That's where Sesshomaru came in. Naraku made it so that the two were pre-occupied with their own brawl, far from the jewel. It was easy; both boys had enough reasons to start a fight, just by crossing paths. Naraku had found out about the Lord of the Western Lands and his mutual hatred towards a certain half-brother who needed to be taken out of the picture, and so plotted their encounter. _

_While Inuyasha was away, it became rather easy for Naraku to escape with the jewel, unharmed. He had distracted the priestess for so long with the help of his many minions, and was able to not only grab hold of his first prize, but had also gained rapid access to it's deep, hidden powers, making it easy for the woman to fall pray to his control under it, as well as obey his every command without having a clear mind to do otherwise._

_When Inuyasha found out about this he was outraged, set on revenge. But after confronting his love and her master for several times now, he failed miserably every time to bring her back to her senses. In caring less about what happened to the Sacred Jewel, he kept on coming back for her and her alone, it being an easier task than just trying to pry the jewel out of the demon's grasp, after all._

_He swore he'd save her._

Now, amidst the fight at hand, Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as he could not only see, but _hear _Naraku's soft, disturbing snicker from way up high. Blood-red started to cover his golden orbs, just as his thoughts went astray to remind him of how Naraku had used him.

_Not soon after he had rejected his offer, Sesshomaru had found his toad servant, Jaken, lying dead on the floor with massive puddles of blood surrounding his little figure. He had been sliced a couple of times, all by the same man, his distinguishable smell covering the air. Sesshomaru resurrected the imp, not before throwing a silent curse upon the one who had tried to mess with him and his honor._

_Soon after his temper grew when Inuyasha crossed his path, about the same time at which Naraku was helping himself to the priestess and jewel. Inuyasha had claimed it was Sesshomaru who had gone off and disturbed his mother's grave; a rumor and slight reality he had found out about—except it hadn't been Sesshomaru. Although Sesshomaru knew it was the sly baboon-man's work and reasoning with Inuyasha was clearly no use, he battled his little brother, leaving him barely alive at his feet in the end. He always made it clear that the hanyou was a disgrace to him and his blood, but never seemed to actually want to finish the little badger off. Even so, he sought to destroy Naraku for messing with him and thinking that he could get away with it. _

Now, crouching some to the floor, the dog demon's bloody glare grew even deeper and soon his silver bangs rouse in a wave of fierce will to battle, a blinding light engulfing his body, making him grow in size. What could have been mistaken before as a young man in battle armor was now a fierce, heavy giant, eyes set to kill his prey.

Just a few yards yonder, Inuyasha lifted and threw around planks, hastily smelling around them to try and find Kikyo. "Kikyo? Kikyo! Where are you?" After what seemed like hours and having flipped over one fourth of the fortress' remains, he then spotted a dim glow coming from the far left side of the land. _Kikyo, _he thought. He dashed towards the light, which started to grow immensely in no time at all.

It was then that Inuyasha noticed his brother, now in his true form, snapping and snarling at Naraku. He could see that Naraku's face still hadn't shown any trace of fear, and thought he either had lost his mind or was overconfident about himself. As the light in front of him started to blind his sight, forcing him to cover his eyes with his arm, the thought that Naraku really was more powerful than either of them ran across his mind_. Damn. I can't die like this. Where's that light coming from?_

Not far away, after a few swipes and strikes from the demon dog, Naraku's joyous hiss filled the air. "You _still _deny my strength? Sesshomaru; while you are here, fighting against me, your worthless brother is off trying to find the _mortal woman_ he so cares about. Tell me; is it worth it, him leaving you here to fight me alone? Surely he seems to have more feelings towards that girl than he does to his pure blood. After all is said and done you shall perish alone, thanks to his mindless efforts to rescue her while turning his back on you-- _family_." A broad smirk appeared on his face, knowing he'd push some buttons with that comment.

The demon with the crescent moon on his forehead was far too experienced to fall for lame moves like that one but still, he attacked with fury. He hadn't need of such babble for a reason to continue his rage against the man in front of him.

Naraku, holding only faint scratches here and there, laughed aloud again as Sesshomaru went for another bite. _Perfect_. He dodged the massive jaws at the last second, just before eyeing where Inuyasha had been standing. "Now, Kikyo! Do as I told you!" His words seemed to awaken something inside of the hanyou, a waterfall of regrets, hatred and love all flowing in the instant that they were shouted out. At Naraku's orders, the bright light dimmed, forming a light figure in front of Inuyasha in the form of a woman.

"Kikyo!" Inuyasha started running across the dead grounds to her, but immediately held back as a burst of energy flew from the still figure, darting towards the dog demon that was just turning around for a second strike.

Amidst all the chaos those few seconds held, Inuyasha's lack of control and planning led Sesshomaru to be hit on the side by a streak of light, the demon growling in pain as his fur started to burn, encircled in white fire.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed for he knew who was making that power but fought to deny it. It couldn't be! The only one who could have done such a feat with that amount of power was Kikyo, but she would never do that! He knew Kikyo was still fighting over control of her own body and mind, and had never once struck intently at him after having heard one of Naraku's orders. The fact that she could be attacking his brother alarmed him, for he knew that she also never went so far as to do something that would help Naraku so. She always found a way to divert her power into something else, but it seemed as if Naraku's control over her was growing stronger as her own will depleted.

As Sesshomaru's body fell to the ground, burnt from head to toe by the unforeseen and dirty move, the woman's silhouette was more clear, letting Inuyasha see for himself it had been Kikyo's work all along. "No…Kikyo!" He reached out his hand, as if to touch her spirit and awake her, but to know use. Her head turned slowly towards him, eyes flickering with pure, white energy. Her hair danced upward in the air as she gathered up more energy to use. Inuyasha couldn't move; this was the first time they had been this close since her capture. His eyes then found a way to divert his glance away from her beautiful features, finding the Sacred Jewel firing a deep, pink light in her left hand, held lightly in her open palm.

"Kikyo! Don't do this!" he cried. Although his words were more directed towards her actions and her distant-like reaction to him, he faintly meant Sesshomaru as well. Though he could say he hated his brother so, deep inside his heart he had always wanted to find a way for him to accept him. Not only that, but if he were killed, Inuyasha would then be truly alone-- aside from Myoga, who he hadn't even considered at the moment. As if_ that_ would make a difference…

After his mother, Kikyo was the one being he ever trusted and loved, so he would never back down the chance to save her. Struggling, he attempted to come to her side, as the wind around her body swirled anything around her, making it hard to reach her.

"Kikyo! Listen to me! You have _got_ to stop this! This isn't like you! Don't let Naraku use you! Kikyo!"

Naraku chuckled. "That won't work anymore, Inuyasha. She's under my full power now, so nothing you do will make her listen to you anymore; I have already corrected that mistake. And although I enjoy a pitiful play of romance every once and a while, I wish to end this quickly, once and for all!" He then ordered the priestess to give a final blast at the fallen youkai.

Inuyasha shouted another protest as he figured that the plan was to get rid of him and Sesshomaru at the same time all along, stunned as Kikyo lifted her right hand lightly in the air, creating another powerful energy blast that emitted from the young woman's might.

Inuyasha threw his arm again at Kikyo and cried "No!" Before Sesshomaru's weakened body had time to react, the white stream engulfing him once again. The youkai's cries rang in Inuyasha's ears like a child being beaten up heavily by grown men, and soon the pained growls turned into whimpers. Inuyasha knew not what to do, but stare down at his last family member with a tinge of regret and remorse. He then growled at Naraku, for he knew it was all his doing, charging at him with all he had and, taking the Tetsusaiga out of its sheath, charged in mid air at his foe. If he could do nothing to make Kikyo restrain her attacks, he'd force Naraku to tell her so.

Naraku was slightly startled at this unexpected move. He brought out his arm in front of him, shaping it to look and act like a sword.

Inuyasha battled on this way for a while, trying to break Naraku's defenses, but to no avail. Part of him knew that Sesshomaru had somewhat of a fighting advantage on him, not to mention experience. If he wasn't able to defeat Naraku, then who was to say Inuyasha could? With many odds except the will to keep on fighting against him, he did everything but give up.

After falling back towards the ground to regain balance and jumping back up again, Inuyasha began calling out his sword's most powerful technique, even though he knew it had never worked before. Just as he was about to mutter the fist letter, a bright light stormed towards his right arm, throwing him far away from Naraku.

Inuyasha looked about while he was still in the air, incapable of moving from the speed of the attack. _I…I can't believe it…It's…Kikyo!_ The little he was able to see of her was enough to haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. There she was, blindly looking at him with those fierce and yet sad eyes, her face in a deep shock. Somehow she knew what she was doing, yet was unable to do otherwise. Inuyasha shot her a pained look, muttering softly as though she could hear him, "Kikyo…I…I love you…", as a lone tear fell across her rigid, lifeless face. Her eyes were still glowing bright when Inuyasha decided to look away before he too made himself blame her for what was happening. Hundreds of years could pass, but he'd never blame her; he couldn't. He loved her too much.

After the utter shock of her blow he then realized the streak of energy was threatening to tear him apart as it sucked away his own energy, the pain now a reality to him. He yelled as his body plummeted towards the ground, rebounding up as it hit. In the short instant he was up in the air again, he started to feel sick to the stomach, feeling his skin burning as his eyes met Sesshomaru who was just a few feet away on the floor—or at least what he thought was Sesshomaru. Inuyasha couldn't think strait, but he knew that what he saw was a miniature dog demon, face and fur all similar to that of his brother's, lying still on the ground. He didn't understand; if Naraku's intentions were to kill them both, then why did he bother to shrink Sesshomaru in size first, if he had more than the power to kill him strait on with the jewel in Kikyo's possession and her at his command?

Inuyasha silently let out a cry; the pain was too much for him. He fell back again with a hard thud on the floor and painfully lifted his right arm, realizing he had lost the Tetsusaiga somewhere. What he saw in it's place startled him; his hand was slowly being covered up by silver fur, having the same feel and look as that of his hair. In the last instances he remained awake, he saw his hands and claws agonizingly form into paws and felt his whole body and face changing as well as his bones, flesh and interiors flexed and shattered to form a new body.

With one last yelp that seemed more of a canine's whine than a man's scream he felt his limbs close in on his underbelly, falling to his side as his newly-shaped spinal cord forced by his now, strange weight unbalanced him, finally making him dread his fate as he became unconscious.

A slight instant before he did, though, his ears picked up a far-off voice that sounded like an irritated and enraged Naraku, screaming, _"What have you done! This wasn't the plan!"_

The once half-demon now lay breathless on the ground, stars flickering in the night sky before making it's darkness become that of his own for more than five hundred years…

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Note: This happened before Inuyasha was pinned to the tree. In fact, he never was in my fic, since Naraku had used a different plan to get the jewel; meaning the usual characters like Sango, Miroku and Shippo never met up with him. They _might_ show up later, though, but slightly different…

Ss pie: Thanks for reading! Hope you like it so far! This story is supposed to be humorous, but making the prologue funny just didn't cut it, so you'll have to wait for it in chapter one. ; )

Chapter One: Who Let the Dogs Out?

Review!


	2. Who Let the Dogs Out?

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

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**Chapter One: Who Let the Dogs Out?**

…Six months before Present time…

Inuyasha panted as he scurried off the down-hill street, chasing after a young man on a bike.

"Woof! I…smell…sausage! Arr woof!"

"No! Stop master, or you'll get caught again!" Myoga was desperately trying to hold on to the dog's ear, his legs flying upright in the air because of the speed they were in. "Lord Inuyasha, please stop!"

"Woof woof! Sausage, yummy!"

Myoga sighed with grief. "Oh why me…" Ever since his lord's two sons had awakened from their spell they had been acting like common dogs. The fact that they actually _were_ common dogs well, let's just say didn't help the situation out.

It had been a bit over a year since the brothers had awakened to greet the new millennia and tried to restrain from insanity of realizing their new bodies. The little that Myoga was able to explain to them before either Sesshomaru or Inuyasha would start to fight against one another again, he had mentioned that he was able to deprive some of Naraku's control over Kikyo by sucking more than just her blood and in return she had somehow driven the brothers into a spell instead of a clear death. Myoga himself hadn't understood much about everything; only that in the last instant in which Inuyasha was turning into his dog form Myoga had clung on to his master and come to fall into their fate as well.

Myoga restrained from telling anyone this, but as soon as he woke up from the spell, he had noticed a small note concerning their status and situation. It read that for Kikyo to be able to give her love a last fighting chance against this new evil, she had sealed him—along with his brother—away in a deep sleep that would last until the time of Naraku's reign were far enough behind to secure them from harm and allow them to find a way to make things the way they were again. Lucky for the world she chose Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to be the ones to save it. Smooth move, priestess; _smooth_ move.

The note told of a way to get the brothers back into their natural state, so long as something related to them when they had been in their natural form were around, after chanting a few words and mixing a few things here and there in a potion. Myoga believed that their swords and armor had been cast away before they had been turned into canines, but so far he had had no luck in retrieving the items.

"Mmm…Sausage!" Inuyasha darted to the right side of the bike, grinning like any dog would at the smell of food. His eyes gleamed at the small, grocery bag in the bike's front basket. "I want sausage! Give me sausage!"

It was then that the biker had noticed Inuyasha to his side. "What the…"

"Woof! Sausage!"

The biker nearly lost control of his vehicle, staring intently at the white, awkward dog to his side. He lifted his glasses with his left hand and, with doubting eyes, asked, "Did you just say…_sausage_?"

Inuyasha happily answered back. "Yes, yes! I want to eat! I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten good food for days!"

Myoga grabbed the ear extra tight this time, concerned yet again if he would still be able to remain alive after the biker's reaction. Dog or not, the brothers still homed most of their powers, including speech. The only problem was that in time they had begun to lose their memories and, in living like dogs, started to act more like them each day. It was a matter of time until they lost everything completely and Myoga would be left all alone to grief for their fate.

After Inuyasha's reply, the biker thought that he had had too many drinks the night before and let the sunglasses fall to the floor as he lost complete control of the vehicle, making the wheels dart dangerously to the side, and finally crashing to a near light post.

The biker flew off the seat, landing head-first on the grass, butt lifted in the air.

Inuyasha then took the bag, now on the side walk, in his jaws and hollered a very rough 'thank you' as he scurried off to one of his favorite alleys and sat down and began munching on the sausage in play.

When they had arrived, Myoga inhaled life, warmth and security after remaining unscathed this time after a food hunt. He knew that if he waited too long to bring the dogs back into their normal forms, one of these days he'd die of Inuyasha's growing stupidity as a mutt.

The flea hopped down to the floor, examining the heaps of trash around him. "Lord Inuyasha we need to stick with Sesshomaru! Can you tell where he is at this time?"

Sesshomaru never took orders from anyone, even if it meant listening to his father's flea companion who somehow knew how to get him back to normal. Myoga knew, though, that once he lost track of the sons, it would be almost impossible for someone like him to track them down and cure them—not to mention getting them out of trouble.

"Sausage, is it?" A cold voice resounded in the alley, the words coming from a canine somewhat similar to that of Inuyasha, but instead was taller and had a crescent moon on its forehead. Its voluminous fur was better taken care of than the other mutt and shown bright white.

Myoga sighed in relief. "There you are." He looked after Sesshomaru too, even though he knew he'd get sour looks and no support back from him.

The dog-lord sniffed the air, wagging his tail slightly and licking his lips. "Sausage. Pity I do not eat human food."

Inuyasha looked up from his meal. "Yeah, well your not one to talk. You're a stray dog, in a youkai-free zone, and you have eaten sausage before, so shut up and get lost." Of course when it came to insulting, neither of the two were short of vocabulary.

Sesshomaru's new growing instinct led him to growl in protest and lunge toward the smaller dog, ripping him away from the meal. The two started howling and biting each other as always, rolling slowly out towards the street.

Myoga tried to warn them, "No! Wait! The dog catcher will get you again!" but the two were already too far to hear him.

The dog fight played out in the street now, unaware of the big, white truck that stopped in the corner thanks to a yell or two from the now, conscious biker, a small man coming out of it slowly with a net in his hand and a tranquilizer gun in the other. The chubby dwarf laughed inwardly; _finally I've found them! They won't escape the pound this time…_

Myoga came hopping out of the alley yelling, but the brothers didn't react. Suddenly Sesshomaru's still keen scent caught a distinct smell and, turning about, realized he was a few feet away from the notorious fiend that all strays hated.

Leaving Inuyasha, he darted off as fast as he could. "Oh no you don't!" The dog catcher shot him in the buttocks, rendering the once demon lord to fall asleep in due time. Sesshomaru cursed his luck, for ever since he had woken up he was left powerless against the very humans he so detested. At first he and the once-hanyou had been able to out run and dodge anything; now they could only run away. He still kept running though, but he could only get so far.

Before Inuyasha could notice what was going on, he too was shot with a tranquilizer. Without being seen, Myoga jumped right back into the dog's uncommon bangs on top of its forehead and hid himself there until he could safely help the two escape from the pound. "I tell them 'don't get caught' and what do they do? They get caught! Man, what would trouble for a little sympathy! I swear, if they're given another one of those 'flea baths' and some how end up as pets again, I'll find some cat to home!" He crossed his arms and shrugged, remembering their last owner. "I wonder how that old lady is doing at the hospital… Too bad Sesshomaru had to bite her leg after Inuyasha was caught swearing again…Now they're wanted as 'mad dogs'! Feh! Soon enough they'll put them to sleep…"

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…One week before Present time…

Somewhere in a more 'civilized' part of a near town, a young woman with long, raven hair crossed the street to begin her lunch break, cel phone in hand.

"No…I'm….No, wait...Hojo!" The man chatting in the other line didn't even give her time to speak. "Well...Yes, yes it would be nice but…" Before she could say more a low 'beeping' sound could be heard.

Kagome sighed. _Why is it that every time I want to ditch this guy he somehow manages to ask me out again!_

She arrived to her destination and as soon as she opened the glass doors, saw her best friend sitting at their regular table, the closest one to the diner's wide, glass windows.

Another young woman, about the same age as Kagome stood up from her chair, smiling brightly. "Finally! I thought you'd never make it!"

Kagome returned a half-smile and sat down next to the girl. "Rin, I've never missed lunch with you and I won't start now!"

"Wait a second…I know that face…Is Hojo bothering you again?"

Kagome could never hide her boyfriend problems with Rin. She sighed, "Yes. He called me just now to ask me on another date. He doesn't seem to realize that I just don't see the 'thing' between us anymore."

Rin sat down, rising a brow. "The 'thing', Kagome? Is that what your kind call it these days?"

Kagome smirked at the tease. Rin always referred to her as the safe one—the one who always had to turn back after getting in the car to check and see if the door had been locked; the one who got into a fit if the bath water kept running and splashed the floor; the one who was too old to enjoy the better things in life—you know, like dating.

"I'm twenty one, Rin, and only a year older than you. Certainly calling me part of a different generation all together is life threatening to you as you keep getting on my nerves about how I'm more _precautious_ and _mature_ than you."

Rin just laughed. "Like staying with the same guy for over a year now and still unable to get him out of your life for what-- almost two months now?"

Kagome harrumphed. "Like you'd know anything about having a serious relationship! It's hard on you, you know."

"Serious? I thought that Hojo was just a guy-friend, not a relationship."

"Oh, stop teasing! You know that the subject only gets me more irritated…"

"Than I have just the thing!" Rin called for the waiter and ordered the usual: two milkshakes and a large cheeseburger with fries.

After the food was brought the girls changed the subject for a while, but Rin brought it up again after mentioning how cute a guy walking past the diner's glass window looked.

Kagome shook her head playfully. "Your hopeless, Rin…"

"…Jealous 'cause I'm still single and your not?" she teased back.

Kagome slurped her almost-empty cup. "We'll see…"

The waiter, a young, fine man with long, brown hair tucked under his working cap, came to the table. With a delighted and cheery accent he asked, "Will you fine, young ladies like some desert?"

The waiter stared into Kagome's eyes as always, making her speechless while trying to look for a way to answer him.

Rin resorted to be the one to answer him, "Yes, the usual please!"

The man smiled at her and mentioned he'd be quick about it. After he had left, Rin snickered at Kagome's blushing face. "So," she started, "why not go after _Koga_ then?" She received a more embarrassed look from Kagome and continued, "He's always writing you little lines of _affection_ on our bills."

Kagome hushed her. "Not so loud!"

"What, like you don't want to go out with him?"

"No…Uh, ye-yes…uh…well, you see…" She inhaled deeply and spoke as fast as she could, "I'm just trying to look for the right guy, that's all!"

Rin giggled. She loved getting Kagome to sweat like this. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come _sooner_ than later." Her comment was more of a tease than anything helpful, so Kagome just looked away, in thought.

_Sure Koga is nice, but so is Hojo…I just hope I know which guy is the right guy for me…_

Unnoticed by all, a little speck was jumping up and down from above a ketchup bottle, from all the way across the room.

"Aha! Yes! I've finally found her!" Myoga danced a little jig, getting his little feet covered with ketchup. "After all this time, I've found her! Kikyo!" He closed his eyes in merriment as a tear of joy fell across his cheek. He wiped it away with a hand and lifted his head with pride. "Now I can get her to bring the boys back to normal again!" The fact that this probably wasn't Kikyo because they were 500 years in the future didn't even cross his mind. After all, he was the first out of the threesome to discover that they had awakened at the very beginning of the 21st century.

Myoga patted himself on the back—with all four of his little limbs.

"…And to think the boys would have been put to sleep in a week! The timing couldn't have been better!"

He then remembered their status and let out a mournful air. "They've lost most of their character lately…I'm not complaining about_ Sesshomaru_, but…even so, they could be at a state where going back is out of our hands. I just hope that the girl is still able to do so…" He knew their situation was getting worse. The guys weren't even able to speak anymore and Sesshomaru even started to never mind Inuyasha's company! Talk about unsettling…

He lifted his gaze up to Kagome again, seeing her smile brightly just as the handsome waiter had come back again.

"Yes, in no time at all lord Sesshomaru and lord Inuyasha will be alright… I've already come up with their swords—Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga. For some reason they were inside a 'museum exhibit' shrine. Humph. They were hard to get, but well while the effort… All we need are their garments and everything will be set!"

Kagome gave another embarrassed chuckle as Koga left and Rin told her to 'go for it'. Seriously, the girl wouldn't take no for an answer. "Rin, I'd rather have a _dog_ than two-time anybody!"

Rin, knowing Kagome had had only a pet cat all her life, laughed. "It wouldn't be two-timing! You're ditching him anyways. Besides, if you don't go out with Koga, I'll just _have_ to take you up on your word about the dog."

Kagome gave Rin a disapproving look. "Surely no dog will _ever_ set foot inside my apartment! They're too messy, you know." Rin just laughed. Kagome loved to keep her place all neat and tidy. Rin even had a hard time pleading Kagome to let her keep her pet hamster around. Too bad it had run away, though. Rin really wanted a new pet, so this was just another way to get Kagome to let her have one in the apartment again.

Rin tried her best at making her say otherwise. "No really; having a dog would be great! They're loyal, do tricks, fetch the paper, act like guardians… and they absolutely attract males when we're in the park!"

"I am not going to allow a dog in my life! I have enough trouble with men already!"

"Aw, but come on, think about it; we could get _male_ dogs. Besides being man's best friend, they're like the opposite gender, only better! It's like having guys around the house all the time, without all the talking and sports! We'd never get lonely…" Besides having a pet, Rin always fantasized about sharing rooms with guys in the apartment. Each girl had her own room, leaving a spare. If not boys then, dogs were the closest she would get to another roommate.

"Rin, for the last time..."

"But it would be so fun, Kagome! Think of the possibilities!"

Kagome exhaled deeply. "You're not throwing one of those 'I want a pet' fits again, are you? They go on for hours. I can't put up with them any more!"

Rin smirked. Kagome could read her mind so perfectly sometimes.

"Alright, alright! If you want one so badly, then get one! But it has to be very small, cute, and well potty trained. In fact; I'll go with you to watch so that you won't bring a Scooby-Doo in with you back from the store.

Rin wrapped her arms around Kagome. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You _won't_ regret this!"

Kagome moaned under Rin's tight, butt-kissing bear hug. _I hope not…_

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Disclaimer: Scooby-Doo isn't mine, either. Nor are the cheeseburger, fries and milkshakes that would absolutely calm my appetite right about now…

Well, review! It's always greatly appreciated…

:D


	3. Two For the Price of One

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Even if I did, I'd prefer Sesshomaru, hehehe…

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**Chapter Two: Two For the Price of One**

…The Present…

A week had passed since that talk in the diner, and Kagome and Rin had visited a couple of pet stores already. Rin had been nagging Kagome to go to one ever since that day, and so far they hadn't been pleased. Every time they decided to visit one they knew, either the pets were too costly or their health was seemingly poor. Not to mention the horrible hospitality that they had been given. Kagome wasn't too shaken by this, since she didn't really want a pet in the first place, but Rin was devastated. Not only were her dreams of having the greatest pet in the world slipping away each time a pet store had turned her down, but everything was giving Kagome reasons to say 'I told you so'—that pets were too much trouble and, if just buying one was such a hassle to begin with, she could only imagine having to put up with one.

Myoga, on the other hand, was happier than the girls. At first he almost fainted when he had found out that Kagome wasn't Kikyo. He then scolded himself for mistaking a priestess from five centuries back to a witty young girl from the modern age. It was so obvious that Kikyo would have been dead by now, yet he had ignored the thought completely. Still, he had no time to waste if he were to save the guys from being put to sleep—although he could easily bail them out again, and this time it would be much more difficult since the pound had put them inside better fortified cages because of their mysterious breakouts, Myoga had to get them off the streets if he were to prevent them from getting caught again before he found a way to break them off the spell.

And that's when it hit him. Literally.

Myoga had followed the girls to their dorms—that's how he slowly realized this girl wasn't Kikyo—and just a few days spending time with them—that is, spying on them while they bathed and changed—a flyer was tossed in the air and had fallen right on top of him in one of the rooms. Rin had been searching for pet stores to visit and so had many flyers and papers at hand, and once Myoga read the flyer about animals being sold inside a store, a devious grin appeared on his face, knowing this would be the easiest and more affective way of getting the girls to accept the guys into their home, just as Kagome passed by, stepping on him.

After he had put himself together he started to come up with a plan. Even though Kikyo wasn't here, he still needed Kagome. He could tell that she had the Sacred Jewel inside of her, though how she did, however, was still a mystery to him. The Jewel was a key tool he needed. He knew that coming up to the ladies and telling them that Kagome held some sort of magical power inside of her, that she needed to use it to 'save' the world (if it really did need saving) and that a curse had been put on two powerful youkais from 500 years ago and that they needed to be turned back to normal, all the while this information being told by someone like himself, a flea with feudal era clothes on, really didn't sound like a good idea.

So he tried the next best thing; make the girls adopt the boys. The fact that they were looking for pets helped him swell, but he would have to somehow bring the guys to a pet store before anything else could be done, and it had to be done fast. Taking them to the pound was out of the question, since the ladies wouldn't even consider it.

Myoga made sure he had a flawless plan first, and then arranged to bring the boys to the nearest store he could take them, then gave the girls little hints here in there of where they should go. He would talk to them in their sleep, speak out loud in the house mentioning the store they ought to go to as if he were a voice in their heads or a messenger of the gods (though that only managed to freak them out, thinking he was a ghost or a mad man who had entered their home) and wrote the name of the place in places he knew they would look at. So when Rin had come out of her hot shower one night and glanced at her mirror, having a pet store name jotted down on it because of the steam, she flipped out and finally decided to go there. When Kagome had found out about it she too secretly wanted a guard dog to guard them against the many abnormalities that were making her house seem haunted.

Kagome and Rin now stood in front of the infamous store they were oh-so-told about, staring at the big, neon letters of its name.

"NATURE'S LITTLE MIRACLES…hmm, _Interesting_…" Rin was the first to speak up as she noticed Kagome getting a little nervous about going inside.

"Alright, let's get this thing over with." Kagome turned to face Rin. "Rin, if this turns up to be another swamp-thingish, dung heap of a pig-sty, I'll just cut this whole 'pet thing' off!"

Rin shrunk at her comment. _Ok. So maybe Kagome's not nervous…Just ticked off…_ Rin then thought of a way to make Kagome change her mind. She instantly made a puppy face, watery eyes, mouth and all, and she started whimpering.

"Oh no, that won't work on _me_, lady!" Kagome shook her finger at her. "It's_ gettin'_ old, ya know!"

Rin then stood properly and snarled. _Drat. It had always worked before…_

They had finally stepped inside and what they saw amazed them beyond their expectations. The place was more like a mini- forest, with it's own little water fall in one corner. There were plants everywhere with tiny flowers popping out, the floor was brown and was made up of something similar to gravel, a butterfly or two flickered around and some of the caged birds had been let loose to wonder about from the tree-like shelves. Rin and Kagome gasped. Certainly not like the other stores they'd been to.

Myoga, hiding behind one of the counters, sighed in relief. After all his work, he managed to bring the girls to the right spot. He designed the place himself and had taken care of the employees, as well as making sure the girls were the only ones to be visiting the store at that very moment.

He then chuckled. _I kind of feel bad for those other stores, though. I had to fiddle around with them in order for the girls to avoid buying anything else. But it was fun, I have to admit, hehehe…and while worth the effort if it'll get my masters to live with this priestess._

Kagome and Rin were busy looking at the displays for the pets. Oddly enough, there were hardly any animals in them, if any. The birds they saw were only the ones flying wild throughout the store, and the rest they managed to spot where either exotic, or very high-priced. Besides them, there were weird-looking fish, turtles, millions of reptiles and bugs. Myoga had done this on purpose too. Especially the bugs. He knew Kagome detested them.

As Rin gaped at every creature, pointing at them while asking Kagome if she could have 'it', Kagome would just look away and cover her mouth, a little close to hurling.

Finally they had made it to the cats and dogs section.

Kagome then ran up to where the cats were, enlightened to see more of the cute little 'Buyos" she could witness. Once Rin came over, though, Kagome's face had been covered in shock and detest.

"Are those cats…_naked_?" asked Rin, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. She pointed her finger at the skinny cats, tapping gently the glass. They had no fur whatsoever, except on the points of their ears, and were a pinkish-brown. Without fur, their skin shown every wrinkle the cats had and as they moved around a bit, intrigued by the young women's stares, they made the wrinkles move around slowly.

Kagome shook her head, still speechless. Even thinking about having something like that around her house was seemingly disgusting. (No offense, cat lovers)

"Aw, so you've seen the hairless felines, eh?" a squeaky, male voice asked. The girls turned to meet a young, acne-faced, red head man, wearing the store's apron. "So, what do you think? Cute, eh? They _never_ grow their fur and, if hand-fed daily every tow hours, they live to be about six weeks." The man smiled warmly at the two, as if he had just introduced them to a new car.

Myoga, having learned a thing or two from his, ahem, flea fiancé from the feudal era, almost let go of his hold from the young man's skin, an inch from losing complete control over his body as he couldn't help himself. Surely the girls wouldn't want a cat now…

Before Rin could open her mouth, Kagome instantly grabbed her arm, leading her out the door. "Come _on_, Rin, there are no good pets around_ here_."

Rin stretched her hand towards the cats as if she were a child in a candy store. "But we haven't seen the _puppies_ yet!"

Kagome just kept pulling on her. "Believe me! If they're anything compared to what we've seen so far, I doubt they'll be anything _but_ cute!"

Rin yanked her arm back, making Kagome stop on her tracks. "Look, Kagome; we've seen each and every store so far no matter what. If you're going to pressure me on making a decision or even prevent me from buying a pet, then I'll just have to…" she trailed off, not figuring out what it was she could do. It was Kagome's apartment and Rin was staying there because she was a friend, and whatever Kagome said, had to be done.

Kagome looked at her, almost daring her to continue her sentence. "Or you'll _what_, Rin?"

Rin was cornered. Surely she would lose everything, not just the pet.

Myoga, sweating hard since he noticed where the conversation was going and knew it would be catastrophic for him if the girls didn't take the guys here and now, jumped in, speaking through the young man's voice again.

"L-ladies, ladies. Forgive me if I am being rude, but may I suggest meeting the dogs? I promise they will be to your liking; they are the best breed we have—in fact, the only ones we have. If I or the store's likeness has offended you in any way, then I can even offer you a discount on your choice." Still having complete control over the human, he made the boy smile, and made him hold his hands in a tight grip, as if about to beg and plead for them to stay down on his knees.

Rin was excited. "Did you hear that, Kagome? They're good breeds! It wouldn't hurt to check them out. Besides, it could work out better than we thought if there's a discount!" She slipped past the puppy-face trick knowing it wouldn't work, and then jumped on Kagome, giving her another one of her butt-kissing bear hugs, adding, "If we go, I'll clean the house for a month!"

Now Kagome wasn't top of her class for nothing; she was smart. And though Rin hardly helped out around the house and her offer seemed intriguing, she knew better.

"Rin, stop butt-kissing and let go. We'll see the dogs, but if there's so much as a hairless spot on them, we'll leave, pronto!"

Rin gave her a last, quick hug and kiss on the cheek before letting go. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise; the house will be sparkly clean!"

Kagome put her hands on her hips. "Oh no. We'll stay so long as you take back your offer. I'd rather have a messy house than have _you _clean it."

Rin just smiled back, and then went running off to find the canines.

Myoga silently thanked Kagome for reconsidering her decision, heading towards the guys. This was getting a lot harder than he thought. He'd have to come up with miraculous ideas for this to end up good. He still had a lot more to do.

Kagome took heavy steps after him, ready to leave. She came up to Rin who was sticking her nose to a glass window near the floor, all happy and cheery about something. She squealed once Kagome came to her side, screaming, "Kagome, look! Look!" she pointed at a dog that reached just below Rin's waist in height when it stood properly.

The first thing that Kagome had noticed was the size of the 'cage'. It looked like the rest of the cages of the store—unwired, cream-colored hard wood material—but it was huge compared to the rest. It was long and wide enough to fit six dogs this one's size comfortably and high enough to fit any person inside comfortably, too. Everything was made of the same cream-colored material, except for the wall they faced that was entirely made up of glass.

Kagome then looked at the dog, a bigger one she'd expected to have in the house, yet didn't think about it once she began to study it carefully. It was completely covered in fur—thank God—and wagged its tale like mad when it saw her coming. Its fur wasn't white, exactly; more of a silverish, snowy tone, which was to her liking. It was a little puffy, but still, cute. Once she continued to look at his well-toned legs and clean paws and nails, it barked at her, as if impatient.

Kagome then looked into its eyes, and was marveled at them. Never had she seen eyes like those; where they… golden? She never thought an animal could have such eyes, and if they did, never imagined a dog having them. They were intense and seemed as if they glowed and had her staring at them for a while, believing they were ones that had much to tell and yet looked a bit sad, as if they had seen some sort of lose.

Rin blinked strangely at Kagome, who had maintained a fixed look on the dog for a while now. For someone who claimed to hate dogs, she acted too fond of that one.

Myoga smirked. Surely this girl had to be the reincarnation of Kikyo or some kind of descendent of hers, if she was so enticed with _Inuyasha_.

Rin didn't bother asking Kagome what she thought of the dog, because it seemed pretty obvious. All this time she stared at it, while the dog huffed and showed his tongue a bit, then licked its lips, then stared back at her with its mouth shut.

Rin, almost forgetting the whole 'male dog' talk, finally came to ask, "Is it a girl or a boy? And what breed is it?"

Myoga, almost choking on her question, tried to think quick about which breed his master was. Surely he had to be of one, but he knew not which one. Telling her he came from youkai ancestry was out of the question, so he just came up with something he thought was convincing enough. He cleared his throat with nervousness; if he messed this up, she could back down.

"Ahem, well, _he_ is called _master Inu_- I mean, _Inuyasha_, and is of a new breed that just came out recently." He looked at Rin, hoping she bought it so far. He knew nothing of pets or common dogs, unless the subject was just how sweet their blood tasted, nor did he know anything about the wide-world of selling, so he just had to wing it and hope for the best. He continued after receiving no response from her, "…and they are quite loyal to humans,' _ok, that was a lie, but still,_ "and are great companions," _another lie there,_ "and are quite energetic," _well, if you count the whole 'love to sword fight' thing…_

"If you'd want a dog, these are the right ones for you!" he finished, putting another happy face on. _Surely that wasn't so bad…_

And to think Myoga knew nothing of salesmanship. All he had said were lies.

Rin made an 'I see' face, turning to the dog once more. It was very cute, and the name 'Inuyasha' seemed pretty nice for it.

Looking towards Kagome's face she gleamed with joy as she felt as if Kagome would finally let her have that one, since she was stilled so fixed on it. It wasn't a very small dog, yet she jus _had_ to approve of it.

Getting a little uncomfortable with the silence, though, her eyes roamed the cage for anything else interesting. All she found were two food dishes, two water dishes, and a soft-looking, beautiful white bed in a corner. A thought came to her instantly. _Why would it have _four_ dishes?_

Then she remembered what Myoga had said. "Are there anymore dogs? I thought you talked in plural when you talked about this one."

Myoga, more than pleased she had asked, for a bit more and they would have left with only Inuyasha; he had forgotten about Sesshomaru for a second there. He looked for the other dog, hoping he hadn't left the cage, since the girls apparently didn't see him in it.

Finally, relaxing, he answered, "Why yes, there is. His older brother, Sesshomaru. He's right over there, in the corner."

Rin followed the man's finger controlled by Myoga, who had pointed towards the corner where the soft bed was laid down.

"Huh?" Rin shrugged. Surely the dog couldn't be there, if the bed…

Rin gasped silently. There, in the middle of the soft, white heap, she swore she saw something moving. As it did, she then noticed that the heap wasn't white, but silver—just like Inuyasha's fur. As the heap kept moving up and down very slowly for some time now, she then realized it must be the other dog, asleep, it's back facing the glass wall. And what was moving must have been it breathing!

Rin put her nose to the glass again, a new grin on her face. Surely this dog must be as cute as the other one.

Not wanting to really wake him but involuntarily tapping slightly on the glass, she waited to see if it would awake.

Nothing.

She tapped again, this time hoping it would turn to face her, at least.

At that instant it moved, scarcely, and Rin could see it move its tail lightly off the ground, away from its body. Its head, originally facing the corner where it slept, lifted up with the same, slow movement its tail had moved, turning around completely, facing Rin.

Rin instantly let out another gasp; this other dog was as beautiful as the first one, but had fancier and shinier fur than it. Another difference was its perfectly shaped crescent moon on its forehead, which puzzled the girl since no canine she knew of could have had it.

_A new breed indeed_, she thought to herself.

Taking a quick look at its jaw, she spotted a soft-colored pink on the curves where its jaws connected, which also seemed to woo her. Moving her sight towards its eyes, though, made her fall into the same trance that Kagome had fallen into with the other dog.

After a mere five seconds of staring at each other, though, the dog backed its sight away from her as if he could care less that she was watching him, and arranged itself for another doze.

Rin immediately got up, and almost scared Myoga as she did it, while exclaiming, "I'll take him!"

Kagome, finally diverting her gaze from Inuyasha while receiving low whimpers from him in return, looked over to Rin. "What? This one?" something in her voice made her sound as of she actually wanted Inuyasha to come home with them, forgetting that she was supposed to hate having a dog in her house.

Rin, a little confused, said, "No, _this_ one." She pointed towards Sesshomaru.

Kagome, just realizing the other mutt, complained, "But why not this one?" pointing towards Inuyasha, making him bark and wag his tail uncontrollably.

Rin blinked at him. He was cute, but Sesshomaru caught her attention the most.

Myoga, noticing the rising tension, jumped in. "I-if you want, you can have them both!"

The girls turned to the young man and asked at the same time, "_What?"_ Rin asked because she would prefer to have both, of course. Kagome's reaction was more of like 'are you kidding me?'

Myoga cursed his tongue, for it seemed he never said anything that helped out lately, and dug in deep for an answer.

"Well, th-they're brothers…and you wouldn't want to take them apart now, would you? They're almost inseparable!" Of course, this being another ironic topic, he tried to mind it for the situation demanded cold-hearted lies.

He continued, "A-and the discount! Tell you what… If you buy either of them, the other is free!" Talk about desperate.

Rin gleamed again. "Really!"

"Uh-huh. Of course, hehe!"

Kagome stepped back a little. "We can't have two dogs in the apartment, Rin. One's enough!"

"But Kagome, they're _two for the price of one_! That's a terrific deal!"

Kagome kept finding ways to defend herself. Though Rin respected and followed her orders much, she could only go so far as getting her way. "Yeah, but they must cost a fortune!"

Rin looked to the young man with desperate eyes. "How much _do_ they cost?"

Myoga, again, forgetting the important details the girls might have wanted to know and hadn't prepared for them, calculated. Humans just _had_ to have a price on everything. _Let's see… if dog food is… and a leash and food dish and… well… um_… He decided to go safe for this one.

"H-how much do you youngsters usually pay for a dog?"

The girls were surprised. Not only because of the 'youngsters' thing, but because no good salesman asked their client what they'd pay for what ever they were selling.

Rin, caring more about getting the dogs, said quickly, "Well, I've seen the cheapest ones around 400 dollars (American money), but it all depends on their breed. Some go up to thousands of dollars."

Kagome, a little reluctant now that she priced them too high, asked Myoga, "But why are you asking? _You're_ supposed to know how much they cost." She just knew something was afoot. The dogs were no-good, probably, and the man could be ripping them off.

Myoga, frantically looking for an answer, replied, "That's just the thing; since they are a new breed, they cannot be sold too highly. W-we're, uh, starting to make a name for them!" He exhaled, fond of his answer.

"Than how much do they cost?" asked Rin, making him jump again.

Myoga made the boy rub his chin as in thought, buying some time. He then came up with, "Well, for you ladies, I'll give them to you for 250 dollars." He hoped that was a reasonable amount, yet not too dissuading.

Rin beamed. "250 dollars!"

Myoga sweat dropped. Maybe he had gone too far?

"That's great!"

Myoga almost fell back. "Huh? It is?"

Rin cheered. "Yeah, duh! It's an incredible price for such wonderful dogs—and it's for the both of them, right?"

Myoga didn't hesitate. He nodded, "Yes, yes, of course!"

Kagome shrugged, thinking this guy was pulling their leg. "I don't know… I bet they're cheep for some reason…"

Myoga shook his head like crazy. "No! It's nothing like that! I just want you two to enjoy them, that's all! I love these dogs, and I just know you'll be fond of them! Promise!"

Rin pleaded with Kagome, holding her clasped hands in front of her, taking her head down. "Please, please, please, please, please! Kagome! Just look at them! There so cute! You couldn't just leave them here, could you?"

At that instant Inuyasha whimpered again, this time putting his heart into it.

Myoga was amazed at his behavior; it was as if Inuyasha had understood their conversation, and the brothers hadn't shown clear understanding for days now. They were all dog, except for minor prior youkai characteristics, which were now dim.

Kagome turned toward Inuyasha, who now jumped up and put his paws on the glass window, high enough to touch Kagome's shoulders. She felt sorry for him as she heard him whimper again, putting a hand on the glass as if she were touching his paw.

Inuyasha barked, and started licking the glass where here hand was.

Kagome smiled. The dog was beautiful and seemed to like her a lot. She had to admit; Buyo wasn't this energetic.

"Please, Kagome?" Rin asked in a sweet tone, unlike her usual butt-kissing schemes.

Rin opened up a warm smile, "He seems to like you."

Ok. Maybe a _little_ butt-kissing wouldn't hurt…

Kagome turned her head towards Inuyasha once again, where he had stopped licking the glass and just prodded his knows at it instead.

He then licked her again, but this time, he seemed sadder.

Kagome felt guilty for the first time ever about a dog. She began to think to herself while observing Inuyasha. Sure she…hated them…

Inuyasha whined.

…_because they aren't like cats, not at all…_

Inuyasha licked her once more.

…_dogs are messier, louder, and more energetic and demand more attention than cats…_

Inuyasha looked at her in the eyes with glistening, golden orbs, and sat down, tall and sad.

…_see? Just like this one. And surely cats don't show this much emotion…_

Inuyasha turned his head slowly to his right, lifting his left ear up and whimpered softly.

…_certainly not _this_ much emotion…_

She stared long and hard at him, trying to find a flaw with him, but couldn't.

…_Dogs are…_

Inuyasha lifted his front paws in the air and barked, and then made two low whimpers again.

…_cute…_

Kagome bobbed her head to the right side, and Inuyasha followed her, bobbing his head to the left.

…_and…cute…_

Kagome did the same thing again, only to the left side, followed by Inuyasha to his right.

…_and…_so_ cute!_

Rin, a little lost here, asked Kagome again. "So, can we keep them? _Please?"_

Inuyasha stood up to Kagome's height and barked softly.

Kagome had never seen such an intelligent display. It's as if the dog understood them and knew she wanted him, but she was a little hesitant at acknowledging the fact that she actually liked him.

"It'll be a lot of work, Rin. They're so energetic."

Rin clasped her hands together. "Yeah, but it'll be fun! We could use the exercise!"

Kagome half-smiled, touching the glass again where Inuyasha's head was. "And they eat a lot. We'd have to buy tons of food, not to mention all the toys and everything they need."

"I know, I know, but look at them! Look at _him,_ Kagome! He really wants you!"

Kagome's smile stretched, and Inuyasha licked her hand from across the glass. "And we'd have to take them for walks, wash them, train them, not to mention take them to the vet. We'd have our hands full with them. And it'll cost a lot to take care of them."

Rin almost got to her knees, seeing that Kagome was just an inch away from agreeing with her. "Yes, yes! But it'll be fun, and so worth it! I promise! Please, please, please, Kagome! And they're so cute, too!"

Myoga was feeling a little uncomfortable about his masters being treated as if they were animals, but what could he expect? They looked like them. All he could hope for right now was for the girls to take care of them while he managed to get the rest of the things ready for their transformation. Even though it wouldn't be wise to tell the girls who they really were right now, or for a long time, for that matter, he knew that any seemingly warm-hearted person holding the Sacred Jewel would just have to treat them well. Besides babysitting the boys for him, he'd have some time off for a change. All he needed was Kagome's approval, it seemed, and everything would turn for the best.

At that moment the older, taller dog had moved from its corner and had turned to face Inuyasha. Seeing what he was doing with Kagome, he then moved his gaze towards Rin, who looked at him intensely.

Rin walked over to the glass and put her hand to it, and the dog sat down in a high, proud position. Its fur was more beautiful than Rin had noticed before, but then again, so was Inuyasha's—just not as silky and voluminous as this one's, though.

The dog looked strait at Rin, and she at him.

Sesshomaru didn't show any signs of emotion like his half brother did, but Rin just smiled.

Myoga, hoping to receive a good answer, asked, "So, will you be taking them? I'm sure you two will give them a good home."

Rin turned to face Kagome who was smiling at Inuyasha.

The older roommate turned to face the young man, and with a short chuckle, asked, "One question; _are they potty trained_?"

Rin jumped onto Kagome, hugging her like mad. "Oh Kagome! Thank you, thank you, thank you, _thank you_!"

Kagome smiled at her and lifted a brow. "I didn't say we could keep them just yet." She faced the young man again. "So, _are_ they potty trained?"

Rin held back a little. _Uh-oh. If they're not, we're doomed. _She looked at Inuyasha, who was still looking at Kagome, then looked at Sesshomaru who had completely sit on the floor, front paws in front of him, his head held high, mouth closed. His eyes were still and he barely moved his tail. Still he managed to make Rin fall for him.

Myoga sweat dropped, for one, he wasn't sure what 'potty trained' meant, and two, somehow he figured the boys weren't.

Kagome, growing a little impatient, yet just a _tad_ bit uncaring whether or not the guys peed wherever they wanted to, since they were so adorable, asked again, "_Well?"_

Myoga started to tremble. This was it. "Um, well, uh…"

Inuyasha barked and wagged his tail merrily.

At that instant a stream of yellow liquid fell from his underside, making everyone sweat drop and making Sesshomaru back away, growling in protest.

Hoping that wasn't what the girls had meant, Myoga continued, "Well, uh…"

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Disclaimer: I've never heard of a place called 'Nature's Little Miracles' before, so if there is, I don't own it. But if there isn't, I guess I've come up with it. : )

Anyways, hoped you liked it! I couldn't leave out just how the guys and the girls met for the first time, so here it is. Until next time!

Next chap: Do You Believe in Magic?

Review!


	4. Do you Believe in Magic?

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Inuyasha. But if I did, I'd be 'hanging out' with 'im right now instead of writing this thing. Wink, wink.

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**Chapter Three: Do You Believe in Magic?**

It had been weeks since the girls had adopted the boys as if they were their own 'children', since having to feed, bathe, clean up after and look after two little monsters seemed more like parenting than companionship.

But whenever things got a little 'out of control', which was practically everyday, Rin would always turn on one of her favorite songs on the radio, which made her instantly think about her new life as a dog owner.

_Do you believe in magic?  
In a young girls heart  
How the music can free her  
whenever it starts  
_

Buying tons of dog food was always a pain in the owner's backs, since they needed to get only the biggest and heaviest of ones the stores could offer; and after leaving their wallets emptier than usual then there was the matter of carrying the darn things. Carrying them was awful, especially if the apartment's elevator didn't work and they had to end up carrying them up the stairs all the way to the top floor of their 40-floor building.

The boys, oblivious to the whole thing, or maybe just too smart to stay behind, would always climb the stairs in a hurry, as if in a race to see who could get to the apartment first, leaving the girls with the bags.

_  
And it's magic  
if the music is groovy  
It makes you feel happy like an old time movie _

Of course, making the guys actually _eat_ their food was a whole other odyssey on its own.__

I'll tell ya about the magic   
It'll free your soul  
but it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock n roll 

Then there was always bath time. As often as they could the boys would be washed somewhere around the ground floor of their building, with a hose and such. But most of the time they had to be washed in the bathtub, which would always lead to even more chaos.

Inuyasha was more of a rebel, always hiding and running away from Kagome when the word 'bath' came up. After what seemed like hours of chasing him, Kagome would then have to tie him down on a leash and lock the bathroom door as well as stretching out all the towels in the house on the floor to avoid making the floor any wetter from all of Inuyasha's kicking and barking and reluctance to have a normal bath.

And because of this, sometimes he'd strangle himself with his collar for doing so. Other times Kagome ended up taking a plunge right in with him.

But most of the times, Inuyasha was doing all of this on purpose._  
_

Heh heh.

_  
If you believe in magic, don't bother to choose  
If it's jug band music or rhythm and blues  
Just go and listen  
It'll start with a smile  
It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try _

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, was more of an angel. He knew personal high gene was very important and would never pass up a good scrubin'. That made Rin very happy, while it irritated Kagome, ho was left with his brother.

_  
Your feet start tapping  
And you can't seem to find  
How you got there  
So just blow your mind _

And Myoga, who'd taken refuge in the ladies' apartment as well? Well, it's safe to say he barely washed.__

Do you believe in magic?  
Come along with me  
We'll dance until morning, just you and me  
and maybe, if the music is right  
I'll meet ya tomorrow   
so late at night 

Then there was the fact that neither of the two mutts, just like Myoga, had ever heard of the terms 'potty trained' or _'potty training'_ before.

Sesshomaru had learned not to soil his territorial home before with the help of one of his previous owners, whenever the guys were taken from the pound. Instead he always gave out hints for his needs and followed Rin's careful instructions of what to do when she wasn't around.__

We'll go a dancin' baby then you'll see  
all the magic's in the music and the music's in me, yeah 

Inuyasha, as well as we know him, was a little reluctant at first with listening to Kagome, so she had to clean the carpet a lot. But then Inuyasha figured that after dozens of 'time outs' he'd rather be pissing Kagome off in any other way, so he quit it.

Though 'surprising' her every now and then was still fun.__

Do you believe in magic? Yeah.  
Believe in the magic in a young girl's soul  
believe in the magic of rock n roll  
Believe in the magic that can set you free  
Ohhhh, talkin' bout magic  


And all this time Myoga was busy trying to find the rest of the ingredients necessary to make the boys normal again.

…At least until a very attractive young woman crossed his path while 'working'. That's when he thought it wouldn't be too big of a deal if he had just a quick bite to eat, since he'd earned it.

_  
Do you believe like I believe? _

And it was because of his pig-outs that our boys were no-where-near turning back to normal.

_  
Do you believe in magic? _

-------------------------------

The boys, being the dogs they were, were too much to handle at times.

Inuyasha was the high-spirited and energetic one. He loved to play around all the time and often brought household items to crash down to the floor. Not to mention all the little 'presents' he often left lying around. Kagome was more of his 'master' than Rin, so it was always up to her to clean up after him, which at times would irritate her, for it made her arrive late to meetings and outings as well as extending her already long list of things to do around the house.

She admitted, though, that having Inuyasha was one of the best decisions she had ever made. She loved him so much, even though at times it was hard to tell because of her attitude.

One of his best qualities was his continuous watch over her, always alert and up and running whenever 'trouble' seemed to sprout. Kagome couldn't tell whether he was either her knight in shinning armor, or just jealous and over protective at times.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, was more of the type of dog that one could show off in the park.

Rin had no trouble with him, only that she often was worried for his in-activity. Once she took him to the vet and found out that he was okay; in fact, he was better built than many of the other dogs there. Inuyasha too. Though how Sesshomaru, being less active and more quiet than his brother could be just as healthy as him, was a mystery to Rin. She decided to let this go and just contribute it to all the lovin' she gave him.

Unlike Inuyasha, Sesshomaru was better behaved, rarely barked (excluding all of the fights he got into with the younger mutt), was conscious of keeping himself neat, and could restrain himself from littering the floors.

And apart from his ever-so-powerful and sly attitude, he did come to protect Rin against any wrong doing, all the while showing no signs of 'your welcome' when Rin would thank him so. This made Myoga suspect that Sesshomaru was more warm-hearted than he ever let out to be. And if it meant having to be transformed into a dog to come to this, than he was glad it had come to be.

----------------------

And after each day was done all four would lay beside one another and have their quiet time together; mainly Rin would read her books with her lord laying at her feet, while Kagome and her pup would watch the night sky elsewhere.

_Yes, ever since the girls had found the boys, everything felt like magic._

_---------------------------_

Yup, thanks to the two canines the lives of our leading ladies had never been the same.

So when one of those long weekends came around the corner, the household started to grow a little tense. Normally the girls would tend to their beauty sleep, have nice, long, warm baths in the tub and enjoy the pleasure of peace and quiet.

_Normally._

Now a day, enjoying a five-minute scrub-down was too much to ask for.

That's why Kagome was always cranky when the weekend came. She always had to work over time in the house because of the accumulating mess the weekdays offered in her home; not to mention all the extra attention her oh-so-cute Inuyasha demanded.

"Woof woof! Grr…Woof! Arf!"

"Huh?" Kagome groaned, stirring the bed sheets a little.

"Arf arf! Woof!"

"Ugh…" She moved again, this time searching for her second pillow, then covering her head with it to cut off the barking. Groaning, she managed to say, "Ugh… _Inuyasha_…"

"Arf arf arf!" Inuyasha, on the left side of his master's bed and nearly yapping in her ear, began prodding his nose at the pillow, eager to wake his girl…err… make that lousy human get up and make him breakfast.

Kagome never looked up from her face-down position on the bed. "Argh… Just… leave me alone!"

Kagome was never a morning person… at seven o'five on _Saturday_ mornings!

"Grr… Arf arf! Grr arf!" Inuyasha ignored her lazy-butt attitude and jumped up right on top of her back. "Arf!"

"Argh!" Kagome nearly jumped from the surprise, but instantly turned on her I'm-gonna-kick-your-butt mode once she recovered from almost choking under her pillow. She turned around and, just as Inuyasha was re-adjusting the position of his paws on her belly now for better comfort, she threw her fist in the air, followed by a serious growl from in between her clenched teeth.

The dog yelped and pulled back, front paws in front of his chest, as if to clear some space between the two. Knowing that the face Kagome always put that could just pass as a _very_ ticked-off demon in disguise whenever she was drawn to her wit's end would make even Naraku recoil in fear.

And now, standing on top of her in bed, staring into her fearsome, practically-youkai-red blooded-eyes, Inuyasha was reminded once again just how females _can_ be:

Scary.

Kagome, still holding out her clenched fist, shut her eyes tight as a vein popped on her forehead. "_Inuyasha…"_

Inuyasha, with his tail between his legs, made one last attempt at taking back his actions; for he knew that whatever was coming up next would hurt. _Big time._

Inuyasha whimpered, but Kagome didn't change her mind. "_Inuyasha, sit boy!"_

"Arf!" A light emanated from the dog's purple-beaded collar just before he came down hard on the ground beside the bed with a loud _thud._

"Humph!" Kagome drew back her sheets and jumped off the bed beside her dog's snout and headed towards the hallway's bathroom on barefoot. "That'll teach you some respect!"

As she past her roommate's door, Sesshomaru lifted his left eyelid as if to see her pass by. Clearly he couldn't, since the door to the room was shut, yet he was used to the same thing going on practically every single day since he and his brother moved in so the least he could do for calming up his anger a bit for the morning interruption of his sleep was to do so.

Suddenly he felt a weak movement from the sheets and lifted his head to look in the direction of his master's head. Rin still lay there and looked as if nothing had happened; yet a moment later she yawned, stretched out her arms and legs, and then opened her eyes while savoring the morning air. Lazily she sat up in bed with a slight bed-head and stared down at the calm dog on the foot of her feet on the mattress, where he'd always sleep at night. Inuyasha would do the same at times, whenever Kagome wasn't too mad at him.

Smiling, she said, "Good morning, Sesshy." Yawning once more she added a light stroke on his head, followed by a scratch behind his ear.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and hummed. He always loved it when she did that, as well as a waiting the times when she'd brush his fur. Sure he didn't show it as much, be he liked it.

Rin giggled lightly and replied to his obvious comfort in a playful tone, "Who's my wittle _Fwuffy_? You are, yes you are. Yes you are." At this the once youkai-lord snapped open his golden eyes. Rin laughed, since every time she would call him 'Fluffy' he'd act the same way, as if knowing just how degrading that would be towards his big-macho status. Rin loved bugging him at times, though at most she did it out of love. If she had known any better, she'd say that he could actually understand her.

Rin stopped her scratching and kissed him beside his wet nose before getting out of bed and walking towards the window to open the blinds. Sunrise was always beautiful to watch, and having Inuyasha's yelp and Kagome storming down the hallway was always a nice alarm clock to look forward to.

Breathing in, the girl sighed, "Isn't it a wonderful day outside, Sesshy?"

The dog, who had been following her with his sight all this time, replied with a soft "Woof." Though their understanding in words between other things was not as good as it used to be when they were 'normal', the brothers could understand plenty. 'Sesshy' wasn't what the former lord would have wanted to be called, but he became used to it since it always came from _his human. _Having the canine part of him take over most of his body and mind, he found a small--very small space inside of his heart to consider it alright. But I can't say the same about the whole 'Fluffy' thing, though. That's a whole different story, even though it _did_ manage to slip in every once in a while.

But Rin was different; she was special. So anything that came from her was warm and appealing to the silver lord, unknown to everyone else.

Rin walked out from her room followed by Fluffy—I mean, the great mutt, Sesshomaru, and peeked her head into Kagome's room.

Inuyasha was sitting on the floor, swearing doggy-style. Rin couldn't help but smile. Ever since Kagome had bought that unique purple-ish collar at a rare store they chance encountered once, 'sit boy' had become her favorite catch- phrase. Amazingly enough, every time she said the magic words, the dog would instantly obey her, though why exactly he did that was left unanswered. Not that Kagome really cared why it was that way, just as long as Inuyasha were to follow her command without a second's hesitation. Kagome never took it off him, not even when ever she'd give him baths.

Rin looked down at Sesshomaru, grateful for his faithful obedience. At times he could be a little stuck-up, but he never went so far as making her want to harm him really bad intentionally. Though sometimes she did have to lift up a fist or two and raise her voice but hey, what more could you get from him?

Hearing Kagome's swears coming from inside the bathroom Rin walked over and tapped the wood softly. In a calm, warm-hearted voice she asked, "Is everything alright, Kagome?"

Kagome, obviously brushing her teeth, muffled a few more curses and yelled something not too comprehensible.

Rin held in a chuckle and looked down at her dog again. She loved it when Inuyasha would tick her off—but not as much as how she could tick Kagome herself _after_ Inuyasha first ticked her off.

Sesshomaru, looking up at his human, said nothing and his stare was his only reply. Surely his brother's actions always made him ashamed of his blood-related relative. He restrained from moving his tail and walked past Rin with that mighty air he always used to have when he was twice as tall with cloths on.

Kagome finally came out from the bathroom and stormed to the small kitchen. "Argh! The nerve of that… that…_mutt_! Argh!"

Rin was taken aback by her comment. No matter how angry her friend could ever get towards Inuyasha, she had never called him that before. _Maybe Koga's getting to her, _she thought. Once or twice he'd arrived at their apartment to hang out, only to be interrupted or snarled at by Inuyasha who would always guard everything the young man said or did to Kagome. It was sweet at times, but because of that Koga could never get close to the girl, and that's why he'd always come up with insults such as 'mutt-face' for her dog.

"Kagome…"

"I'm getting him fixed, _today_!" Kagome opened up the fridge and stuck in her head, looking for the eggs.

Rin stepped back again. "K-Kagome, you aren't _seriously_ thinking about--"

"Oh yes I am! I'm a desperate woman, and desperate times call for desperate measures!" She took out the carton and some butter, closing the door behind her with her foot.

Rin looked towards Sesshomaru, who seemed to be quite interested with the conversation. "Kagome… You're just upset. Stop a minute and listen to yourself."

Kagome had turned on the stove, used the butter, and had cracked an egg hard on the pan's side before answering, "It'll do him good," before making the egg's insides fall hard on the pan.

"No, it wouldn't. You're talking crazy talk here, Kagome!"

Kagome kept her back to Rin, tending to the egg. After some seconds of nothing but sizzling as her reply, Rin added, "You _know_ that won't make him stop doing what it is he does, right?"

Kagome flipped her egg and heard Inuyasha come in, standing as far away as possible from everyone else. Sesshomaru ignored him and remained focused on what the ladies were trying to agree on.

"What, you mean all his rude, crummy, sloppy, ignorant, son-of-a-mother's hive, pain-in-_my_-ass attitude that drives me crazy! Not to mention him scaring off any guy I've ever known away! How am I supposed to get a boyfriend now, huh? How am I even supposed to get married! Have kids! Live a normal life!" By now Kagome was waving her utensil in the air and screaming at the top of her lungs at an innocent-looking Rin.

Rin sighed sadly. "Kagome… You know you love this dog and would probably do anything for him, so just calm down a bit, alright? You know that even after all of his… I admit… animal-ish attitude for, _after all, he is an animal,_ he's filled up the part of yourself that has felt empty for a while now, or am I wrong?"

Kagome looked down, thinking for a moment. She knew everything Rin had said was true, but she couldn't help but stay mad about everything else.

Inuyasha whined and licked his lip slightly, arranging his head to lie on his front paws stretched out on the floor. Kagome eyed him.

Sesshomaru almost rolled his eyes. Surely Inuyasha couldn't get any more pathetic.

After a short silence, Kagome jumped up as soon as she smelled something burning, remembering her egg. She flipped it again, only to see it burnt coal-black on one side.

Rin asked again in a happier tone, "Now, don't tell me you're still mad at him. Look at him, he's just so adorable! Besides, you can't be that cold-hearted and leave our _babies_ as fatherless-wannabes, now could you?"

Kagome threw away the burnt egg and replied in an unemotional tone, "Yup, I could, and I will, once I make breakfast. Sesshomaru should get it too. I just bet that one of these days they'll go off on us and search the streets for some mayhem. I don't want to end up having to look after puppies too, you know, or hear the other dog's owner screaming at us for the whole thing, or becoming a grandma before my time's come.

"We'll be doing humanity a favor, Rin, so no butts about it. We're taking them to the vet to get fixed and that's final." Kagome was always tough to argue with.

Rin opened her eyes in shock. "No, you can't do that! Sesshomaru isn't like that at all! You're just paraphrasing for Inuyasha's actions. I won't let you sterilize Fluffy!"

Sesshomaru then realized the gravity of the situation. If Rin was in the middle of an argument and called him 'Fluffy', then something was really going down. He didn't like where this was going.

Myoga, who had been still partially asleep on top of one of the t.v.'s antennae in the living room, woke up with a jolt and fell to the floor, hitting himself with other objects along the way as he came down. The word 'sterlilize' seemed to have struck a cord with him, and being the dog's guardian meant he had to be one step ahead of everyone else.

Myoga got up as quick as he could and started jumping towards Inuaysha's back without being noticed by the humans, and hid himself inside his master's fur.

"Rin, it's for the best." And with that, Kagome cracked another egg.

Rin looked sad at Sesshomaru but thought about it and said out loud, "Well, it_ is_ for the best, I guess…"

Sesshomaru, knowing his master's sad expression and knew she had been somewhat hurt, tried to make out just what it was that was bugging her.

Just then, a loud slapping noise came from the floor's main hall. Outside the girl's front apartment door, a man's voice followed, "Ouch! Why'd you do that for, Sango!"

A woman's voice than yelled back, "You know why, you pervert!" and a door was slammed.

Everyone inside Kagome's apartment had turned their gaze towards the front door, as if knowing everything that had just happened without having to look at it with their own eyes.

Kagome sighed, eyes closed. "Looks like _someone_ never learns, huh?"

Rin nodded in agreement with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Uh-huh. Hey, maybe we should sterilize _him_ instead."

"You've said it, sister."

Myoga, still trying to figure out what the vet conversation was all about, moved a little, which made Inuyasha lift his right foreleg to his side and start scratching the skin where the pest had been tickling him for a while.

Myoga covered himself with his arms, "Argh!"

Kagome looked over to her dog. "…And while we're at it I guess I'll have to buy Inuyasha some more flea powder."

Inuyasha stopped mid-way, recognizing something for once. Myoga, always leaping into his fur, made Kagome suspect he had flea problems and had treated him various times, all of which weren't too pleasing.

Kagome sighed, "For a 'good, new breed' they're pretty good at making our lives miserable, not to mention making excellent flea-magnets.

Sesshomaru chuckled deeply, unheard to the rest of the souls in the room. He loved it whenever it was time for Inuyasha's flea-treatments. He could only compare that with the joys of biting into a big, juicy steak Rin would sometimes make him.

Inuyasha leapt to his paws and scurried off somewhere inside the apartment, attempting to hide from Kagome. Myoga hung tight to his fur, screaming, "Run! Run for your life, Lord Inuyasha!" Flea powders were never to his liking either. Obviously, they made him go through near-death experiences.

Sesshomaru chuckled again, now waging his tail.

Rin eyed him and, almost believing she could have seen him smiling, said to no one in particular, "I should get some for Sesshomaru, too. Those things are contagious."

The elder dog stopped dead in his tracks, instantly looked up at the girl, then darted off after Inuyasha to hide somewhere.

Rin and Kagome followed him with their sight, then Rin said, "You know, sometimes I really _do_ think they can understand us, Kagome."

Kagome didn't hesitate with her remark, _"Oh yeah."_

Still outside, a loud banging could be heard on a door.

"Sahahahango! _Please_, open up! Come on! I was only kidding around! Sango? Sango!"

---------------------------------

Argh! So sorry this chap came out SUPER late! I re-did it a lot, and I still don't like its wholeness that much. I know it could be better. Sorry guys, but I just had to put something up after so long and in the end everything I wanted to appear _did _come out…But maybe the lyrics were over doing it? I just thought it went well with the whole 'imagining the girls and their dogs having playtime together' thing. Magic's always a sweet way to put it. It went a lot better in my head though: P And, of course, the song's not mine, either.

Anyways, thank you all SO MUCH for the last reviews. I've never had so many for one same chapter. Yippie! Yippie! Hurray!

The guys are living like dogs, so they just had to visit the vet sometime! Stay tuned, and if you have a request or an idea you might want to see happen, then let me know. I wanted the guys to stay like this for a while, but if you want their 'true selves' to come sooner, than say something. Until next time! Please Review! XD


	5. Mission: Improbable

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Sesshomaru. (Kagome and Rin do teehee!)

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**Chapter 4: Mission: Improbable**

Rin knew Kagome very well; or at least that's what she'd always think to calm her nerves. But there they were, on a couch, dogs in front of them, inside the vet's waiting room. Kagome _did_ hold up to her word after all.

Inuyasha was a little jumpy and Sesshomaru would glare at anything that moved in the room, but that was to be expected; the boys never had pleasurable visits to the doc. Somehow needles weren't their thing. Well, at least this time they're not getting a shot, huh? Wink, wink.

"Kagome?" Rin asked her friend who was sitting on the other side of the couch.

"Hm?" she replied, not looking up from the magazine she was reading in her hands.

"Kagome, what are we doing?""

"Huh?" Kagome finished reading the last line and faced Rin. "What is it?"

Rin sighed. "This!" She waved her arms in the air, signaling the waiting room they were in.

Kagome looked at her as if struck dumb, and then replied, "What? Like you didn't get it when I explained it to you _eighteen times_ in the car on the way over?"

Rin put her arms down onto her lap. "No. I still think this is just...just... Stupid!"

Kagome didn't bother anymore. "Well, frankly, I don't care. Besides, we're already here, aren't we? And if you've come along with me all this way, than it must mean that _you're in this with me_."

Rin looked at her, letting her words sink into her slowly. Then she slapped her face with one hand, mumbling something.

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned to look at Inuyasha. He lay in front of her feet face up, paws curled up on his chest. His eyes were closed, and he seemed so peaceful; his innocent little brain had no idea what was about to happen.

Kagome felt guilty for once in a long time. Sure she couldn't get along with this little charade any longer; her steam had already subsided, and she had never thought of getting Inuyasha...you know... in the end. But she couldn't just give up now, and prove to Rin that she had been wrong all along. She'd have to swallow her pride, and she wasn't used to that.

Safe assured, though, Inuyasha wasn't going to get fixed.

"_Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Please report to the doctor's office."_

Kagome startled at hearing the loud speaker suddenly come on. She then spoke to Inuyasha to wake him up. At first his ear twitched. The second time around he ruffed. But the third call from Kagome made him finally open one eye, then get up slowly.

Both walked over to a door and Rin yelled back, "Kagome, don't do this!"

Kagome stopped at her words, then continued walking without looking back.

Rin felt depressed. This wasn't like Kagome at all. She knew that her girlfriend could be pretty stubborn at times, and would even turn in her silly attitude whenever she knew she was wrong. But now... Kagome looked serious. Seeing that her pride had yet to falter, Rin tried to think up of something she could do.

Then, she had an idea. Quickly she got up from the couch once Kagome had been out of sight, and knelt down beside her dog. Sesshomaru, who had been sitting upright since the moment he arrived, looked toward his human.

Rin grabbed a hold of his head, nestling her fingers in his fur. Looking straight into his eyes, she said, "Sesshy. Listen to me," she then pointed a finger at the door her friend had gone through, "You know why we're here, right? Your brother's in there and is about to get a serious mishap if nothing is done about it. Kago can be hard headed at times, but this time she went too far. And if we don't act now, something that we could regret for the rest of our lives will occur and I could never bring myself to forgive myself for letting this happen. Do you understand? Inuyasha needs our help, and I know you would do anything for him; so please, Sesshy, help me get him back from the vet!"

The rest of the pet owners in the waiting room looked at her as if she was crazy, talking to her dog like that and raising her hands up in the air as if she were to begin a mission.

If Sesshomaru could have understood her and her obviously ridiculous speech, he would have smirked jokingly if not laughed at her for thinking that he, the great lord Sesshomaru, would ever come to lend a magnificent, elegant, perfumed silver hair on his head to help that idiotic excuse for a half mutt that shared half his blood.

But the dog couldn't understand Rin, so at the mentioning of his brother's name he just huffed and moved to sit elsewhere. He was astute enough to know what a waist of time something could be, and this was it.

Rin sighed, for she knew what was going on; he'd done it on various occasions before, so it was no use to try and make him follow her. Instead, she figured he would have been a disturbance to her anyways, and set off on her own to save Inuyasha, waving a 'stay there' command to her Fluffy-kins.

Sesshomaru watched as his master walked away, a little concerned, but gestured otherwise and lifted his high head even more magnanimous if he could, hoping to stay the rest of the time being staring into nothingness, as usual.

----------------

Inuyasha lay on the vet's table wearing a defensive-looking face. He always put in on whenever a guy would come too close to his girl in the park or whenever Sesshomaru looked ready for a dog fight. Kagome sighed; _This is going to be harder than I thought_.

The vet's apprentice was getting a few things ready for their visit and the 'clink' noises and light bouncing off of the slim needles and knives that she moved about were getting Inuyasha even more nervous.

Kagome tried to sooth her dog. "Oh, come on, Inuyasha. You're not afraid of some little needles, are you?"

He turned to look at her, cursed in dog speech, and then turned around to see if he could make an escape.

Kagome caught him by the smooth skin of his neck, and held him tight against the table. "Oh no you don't! Your getting a check up and that's final! Now stay down and behave! Sit boy!"

Once again, the poor dog fell hard face down against the metal table, leaving a little dent mark. The sound that the crashing of his noggin made when it came down upon cold metal resounded in the room, through the passageway, until it came upon the animal owners in the waiting room, followed by a loud, hurtful whine from the mutt.

Sesshomaru moved his gaze from the wall to the door where Rin had gone through, highly satisfied with the sound of his brother's torture.

Rin, who was trying on a white gown somewhere, caught the noise as well and hurried off to the second stage of her plan. For all she knew, she could have been late already!

-----------

When the vet came in, the middle-aged woman in a white gown slipped a hand through the door that led from her office over to her work space, peeked shyly, and hurriedly looked around the room to see if only the dog and its owner were inside, alone.

"Aw! Finally!" Kagome was getting a little frustrated with having to wait so long for her.

"Uh... y-yes! Of course, heh heh!" The woman chuckled, scratching the hair on her head and sweating a little. "I, um... was caught up with, um...something else, heh heh! Sorry I took so long!"

Kagome crossed her arms, seeming unpleased. She sighed, "Well, lets just get this thing over with, why don't we?"

"Yes, o-of course!"

Kagome eyed the woman. "Are you okay?"

Jumping back and getting even sweatier, the vet replied, "Why yes, of course! Why wouldn't I be!"

----------------

"Ah! Here we go!" Rin had finally managed to open up one of the little doorways that lead up to the air conditioning vents that dangled from the ceiling after much effort to keep quiet. Putting the door down softly to her side and sticking out her tongue like great minds do when they are in the process of concluding a great masterpiece, she got into the vent with quiet ease.

"Hm...Now where did they go?" Rin crawled her way through the narrow vents, looking through the little windows in her path and searching for the one that led to her friend's dog's appointment.

Finally, she found it.

Able to see everything from her point of view, Rin kept quiet and listened into the conversation until her cue would come.

"Ahem. Shall we begin?" The vet held her chin and stared weirdly at Inuyasha, pondering something. After nodding some and repeating words of contentment over and over again, leaving Kagome spaced out, she finally said, "Yes, yes." With this she jerked up, holding a finger in the air. "Inuyasha is sure one healthy pup!"

Kagome almost fell over. "But you didn't do anything!"

The vet looked at her surprised.

"Listen you, I brought Inuyasha here for a reason and I expect it to be handled quiet professionally, thank you very much!"

The vet stepped back a little, but didn't seem too surprised with Kagome's reaction. Clearing her throat she began, "Ahem. Well then, lets s-see..." She studied the instrument table behind her then took out a stethoscope Holding the ear pieces in one hand, she then put the round piece on Inuyasha's back. The dog had calmed a bit and, unlike with his regular check ups, lay in ease.

Kagome was intrigued by this. "Hm. Yes, yes... Excellent! Like I said, Inuyasha is a strong young one!" The vet put down her instrument. "Now, I think that should do it. You are more than ready to leave!"

Kagome almost fell back again. "What! You're kidding me, right! What kind of a _doctor_ do you call yourself?" Obviously Kagome didn't need to be a master surgeon to know that that wasn't how the instrument was used.

The woman blinked, confused. "But... I thought I was supposed to be a _vet_..."

Small strands of hair started to pop out of Kagome's head. "You_ are_ a vet..."

The doctor smiled. "Oh. Well, that's great then!"

Kagome stepped back. "What the...?" After pulling herself together she said in a serious tone, "Look. Something weird is going on, here. I bring an animal in here, and your supposed to check on him, alright? And check him right! You never were like this on our previous checkups, and so if there's a reason why you can't do this right now, I'll have to go somewhere else."

Rin, still inside the vent, gasped. _No! If she leaves, then I'll have to do this all over again! My plan would be ruined! Not to mention she hasn't changed her mind yet!_

The vet got worried as well for some reason, then replied, "No! Wait! I-I can explain! Here. First I...uh...have to wait for some results to come in from...uh…the previews patient and...uh, yes, that's it...and until then I won't be able to tend to _Lord Inuyasha _for you!" The vet inhaled a big gulp of hair after saying all that with one big frightened breath of air.

Kagome blinked. "Uh..._okay_..." She didn't seem too comfortable with the way things were going but shrugged it off. The truth was she didn't want to go to some other place if she was already here. But though the vet was the same one she always went to, something about her was just not right...

"Wait a second... did you just say, _"Lord_ Inuyasha?"

The vet gulped down on hard saliva. "Uh..uh... d-did _I_ just say that? No...I-I meant...uh...you see..." After fidgeting for a while the intercom finally turned on.

"Ms. Kagome. I have a man here that says you ordered twenty medium-sized pizzas. Please come to the front counter. Ms Kagome."

"Huh!" Kagome jumped. "What the..." She hadn't ordered any pizzas!

Rin held a hand in front of her mouth to try and hide her giggles. The prank call she had made earlier was now making her plan spring in to action. _Yes! Finally, the pizza guy came! Now for operation 'B'!_

"Uh... Maybe you should go and check that out...?" the vet finally suggested.

Kagome clenched her fists together and headed for the door. "Hmph! This _better _be a mistake of some kind!"

As soon as she had left, the vet cleaned off her sweat from her forehead and instantly ran towards Inuyasha's side. Whispering so low that Rin couldn't hear, Myoga popped out from under the vet's hair and stated in his normal voice, "Lord Inuyasha, it's me! Myoga! I've come to rescue you from the horrible fate that awaits you!"

Myoga had planned stalling Kagome for as long as he could so that she would either reconsider the whole thing or leave out in an outrage. Ever since the flea had found out just what the girl had planned to do with his master, he had been in a state no closer to a coma. He had overheard one of the vet's employees' conversations, and once the truth was let out, he had to keep himself from fainting. All he remembered after that was how many nightmarish visions had come to mind and how humans could do something so horrible and unheard of to a dog. Not only that, but they were about to exercise it on his Lord!

_Oh sweet mother of kami..._

Just before Myoga could do something else Kagome stormed back in. "And don't you even _think_ I'm letting you a second alone with my dog! Now come with me!"

Unable to respond, the vet was yanked by Kagome and had to leave the room. Myoga cried silent tears_"But, but..."_

Rin couldn't have been happier. Everyone except Inuyasha was gone and, knowing Kagome, she had no less than 13 minutes to get her job done. Perfect. It was more than enough time for her to deal with the situation at hand.

Still thinking Inuyasha needed any rescuing and with a wide smirk, she started unscrewing the window latch and once that was done, she punched herself an opening and fell landing next to Inuyasha's table—but with a hard _thud _on the floor.

Inuyasha had heard her before in the vents and, knowing it was only Rin, kept it easy. He had followed her movements with his head and, just as she had hit the floor, sweat dropped while making a sharp down movement with his noggin. In his cute little doggie mind, he thought,_ Well, _that_ had to hurt!_

Standing up and quickly patting off any dust bunnies on her white gown, Rin tried to compose herself, giggling in an embarrassed way at Inuyasha who was now seeing eye to eye with her from his spot on the table.

"Uh...heh heh, my bad!" Scratching her head with her eyes closed, Rin then put her hands on her hips. "Well, at least everything's going according to plan."

"_No, no, no, no, no!"_

"Huh? Wha!" Rin gasped, recognizing Kagome's voice from behind the door. "Oh man! She's come too early! And if she sees me here, then... Uh-oh." The white gown was to act like an employee if anyone else found her where she wasn't supposed to be, but Kagome couldn't see her! Rin scrambled through some boxes on the floor and, after finding some balance, was able to climb them up till she got to the vent from whence she came.

_Wait! I forgot the screen!_ Looking down at the floor where the vent's door was, she prayed no one would see it.

"A-and that's that! I will not leave Lo- I-I mean, Inuyasha alone in the room!" Myoga was having a tough time convincing Kagome to let him stay behind.

"And for the _last_ time_, no_!" Pulling the vet to the door, this time by her collar, the two were out of the room once more.

Cringing from the door being shut so hard, Rin let out a heavy sigh, finally being able to breathe again.

Changing into mission-impossible –mode again, she jumped out of the air vent, landed on her feat just like a cat would, and wasted no time.

Bringing herself up as straight as possible, she saluted the mutt with her left hand on her forehead, almost like a soldier would. "Ahem! Inuyasha, I've come to save you from the horrible fate that awaits you! (_deja vu_, huh?) Now come with me, sir Inu of the dog clan!"

Inuyasha, not understanding a word she said, just kept staring up at her. Rin insisted again. "Inuyasha! We_ have_ to _hurry_! Either you walk out here like a male or you...Argh! Never mind!" She resulted in tugging him off the table, but was cut off when she heard voices coming from the outside. "Drag!" She let go of the mutt's paw, jumped on some furniture, then made her way into the vent again so she wouldn't be seen.

The vet came in in a hurry, followed by Kagome.

"_But you don't understand!"_

"Whatever! I've had enough of this weirdness for one day! I have to put up with it as much as it is at home! I'm leaving! Down boy!" Kagome directed her attention towards Inuyasha, making him understand that that command was meant for him. He leaped off the table. After muffling a few things under her breath, Kagome headed out towards the waiting room. "And that's the _last_ time I come _here_!" The girl left, slamming the door behind her. First the doc, then the pizza guy. Sheesh. What a crazy morning.

Myoga, staying behind in the room, started laughing historically in his own voice, still controlling the woman's body. This maid Rin jump back a little.

"Ha ha! Yes! I did it! Now _Lord Inuyasha and Lord Sesshomaru_ are safe! Yes! Woohoo! Yippie! I'm off the hook!" Ceasing from jumping up and down, Myoga then realized that Kagome was actually _leaving._

"Ahh! Wait! If I don't get back to the girls soon, they'll leave without me!" Still in the vet's hair, he hurried the body through the office's door.

Rin, still a little shocked, relaxed her body again from holding on to her breath. Shoving the incident that just played out to the back of her mind for the time being, she looked at the sleeves of her gown and sighed again. "Well, _this_ was pointless."

A little tired but happy everything turned out for the best, Rin started going back through the vent to get out._ Phew. I wish there was an _easier_ way to get out of this place..._

After trying to find the first opening that she had gone through, Rin had found herself lost.

_Uh…I think I'm lost…_

But fate didn't bail on her, for it wasn't long before she heard Kagome's voice again…

"Listen here, bucko! I ain't buyin' no pizzas that I never called for!"

"But….but…I can't just take this back with me! My boss'll kill me! You have to take the pizzas!" Rin could tell that the delivery kid was sweating out there. Or at least that's who she thought Kagome was yelling at.

Crawling just a few feet further, Rin found yet another little door that led to the vet's check-in counter. In fact, she was behind the counter on the ceiling, from where she could see. Kagome, from her spot at the very front of the counter, was firing up the whole room and had apparently won the discussion. Inuyasha was sitting next to the exit, ready to leave as soon as possible, and Sesshomaru hadn't moved from his former location, which was in the far corner of the room.

_Phew! Oh good…Now I just have to find a way to get out of here while no one sees me…Yeah, like _that's_ ever going to happen! I need some sort of diversion…_

Rin started to think of something when she reached out for her phone and managed to get her sleeve caught in one of the screws. _Oh great. Now what?_

Tugging at it, she just seemed to get even more tangled up in the narrow vent.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Kagome asked, looking around. She thought she had heard a soft thumping but it must have been her imagination. Looking up, she saw the air vents. "Humph. Must be rats or something…"

Rin instantly stopped. Rats? No way! She was allergic to them! _Horribly_ allergic to them! She started to sweat, but calmed down when she noticed that Kagome must have confused her banging with a rat in the vent.

Rin gulped. _Rat? In the vent? _She had never thought of that! If she had, then she would have thought twice about going into the vents._ Come to think of it… I _have_ been feeling a little weird since I got in here… Um…Maybe there really _are_ rats in here! I've got to get _out_ of here!_

Quickening her pace, she began to take off her gown completely since her nerves were too much for her to be able to try and get the sleeve untangled.

"Hey? Where_ is_ Rin, anyway? Rin? Rin! Where did you go!" Kagome looked around for her friend in the waiting room, only to spot her stuck-up canine alone by himself instead. Walking over and kneeling next to him, she asked, "Hey, Sesshomaru? Where did Rin go?"

Sesshomaru, being polite for once, moved his sight toward the door he had seen his master go through.

Kagome looked at him, then to the door, then asked, "She went through there? Are you sure?"

After receiving but a small grunt in return, she then stood up, hands on her hips. "Argh. This is hopeless. Like he could actually _tell me_ where she went…"

Rin had noticed her Fluffy acting all Lassy-like and grinned. She was proud of herself for teaching him so much!

"Squeak, squeak."

"Huh?"

"…Squeak."

Rin slowly turned around to look behind her and saw none other than a small rat crawling closer to where she was. This made her jump and sweat drop. _Ahhh! It's the devil! The devil's come out to get me! Argh!_

Getting a little too excited, she started moving too much, catching the attention of everyone in the waiting room. "Uh…Hey! Can someone hear me? I need some help here, quick!"

Although her voice was a little muffled, Kagome had recognized her friend's voice loud and clear. "R-Rin? Is that you? What are you doing in there?" She got past the counter and stared up at the vent.

"Ahh! Kagome! Quick, help! There's a rat in here, ahh!"

The brothers had noticed her voice, too, and were now facing in the vent's direction.

Looking back again, Rin's heart started to pump even more blood seeing how close that little badger was getting to her. He was just a few feet away! And…_Oh my God! ANOTHER ONE!_

Coming out from around a corner there came this big, fat, ugly rat. It was nearly three times as big as the first one, and it was coming even faster towards her!

"_Ahhh! The devil's come to take me and he brought reinforcements! Ahhh!"_

Rin's breathing had stopped, and her mind traveled back to the days where some rat incidents had made her fall seriously ill and under hospital care. Just touching their fur could make her sick!

"Rin! Hey Rin! Are you ok? And…d-did you say there was a rat in there? Rin? Rin! Can you hear me!"

Kagome's shouting woke her up and gave her the jolt of a lifetime. "Ahhhhh! Someone, heeeeelp! There's a really big _rat_ in here, ahhhh!"

Inuyasha sprung into action and ran towards the counter, making a round turn through a little opening they had. He found his way next to Kagome and stood there like a good dog, jumping up every now and then while barking, as if trying to help Rin out in any way that he could.

Sesshomaru too had reacted to Rin's cry, if only just a bit, but failed to move once Inuyasha headed towards her.

Kagome's eyes thinned. She knew all too well just how difficult the situation was getting. Now in a panic, she started screaming as well. "Hey! We need to get her out of there-- now!" Cupping her hands, she voiced, "Rin! Can't you get out!" Turning back towards the secretaries and pointing a finger up towards the vent, she screamed, "Hey! Didn't you hear what she said! She needs our help! There's a rat in there and she's _allergic_! Didn't you guys get that? Help her out, now!"

Dogs aren't completely oblivious to everything; they're just differently-abled from humans in communication. So Sesshomaru knew what was going on even though Rin's words meant squat to him.

The lord scrunched his silver eyebrows, _hard._

"Ahhh! Kagome, they're at my feet!" Rin struggled to get free but only become even more tangled up between her gown and the vent's narrow space. With all the commotion she couldn't think straight and just kept getting even more tied up.

"Rin! No! Wait!"

Both rats were working up their way fast up her leg that time seemed to stop for the moment.

And everything else around her: the gown, the vent, the secretaries, the delivery guy, the clients, their pets, the whole room and it's entireties—heck, even Kagome and Inuyasha seemed alien at that very moment, and nothing was more important to her than…Fluffy. For some reason her mind pictured just Fluffy.

One of the rats started to sniff at Rin's bare leg, causing her skin to itch. Rin screamed as loud as she could, an unknown force telling her just what to say.

"_LORD SESSHOMARUUU! Ahhh! Help me, Lord Sesshomaru!"_

Rin's child-like high-pitched screams filled the air, making everyone nervous to the point where they though she was just about to get killed.

Sesshomaru's ears perked up.

Inuyasha almost had to close his ears from the volume, and Kagome stared blankly at her friend's face from across the little window. _Lord… Sesshomaru?..._

The rats got frightened from Rin's screaming that the big one bit her just above the ankle, digging it's teeth deep into Rin's skin.

"_AHHHHH!"_

"Grr…Ruff!" In less than a second Sesshomaru reacted, growling with a dangerous air and glaring like a mad dog at the vents, eyes turning pure blood.

No one could say just how fast he moved, but they were almost sure he had to have wings of some sort to have sprinted from his corner, across the room, leaped over the desk counter even higher than he needed to with his nails, paws and open jaw in front and, within that same leap, tore open the vent along with scraps of paint that fell from the ceiling, managing to bring the whole system down from the mighty blow.

Before anyone could react, he twisted in the blink of an eye once he scraped the floor, catching Rin on his back just as she fell from the blast.

Both rats fell after her, Inuyasha taking care of them with a full blow of his claws.

Not even Kagome, who had front-center seats to the spectacular, could believe her eyes. What kind of dogs were these!

After some of the debris and dust cleared out, Sesshomaru laid an unconscious Rin on the floor with the delicateness no one would expect from a dog, and stood staring down at her until the paramedics arrived, not looking up once.

He never left her side.

----------------------

She sighed.

Sometimes life was just too complicated. Other times it was just too simple to adjust to.

This was one of those nights where there was nothing else to do but to remember how lonely one felt inside. And how close to death all of us are.

"_Inuyasha, I hope Rin will be alright…" _Her voice came out dry.

Inuyasha cocked his head to the right, staring intensely at Kagome.

Even as a dog he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She looked so sad, and yet remained ever so graceful. Her hair played in the night wind, and the stars made her eyes glow. She was almost celestial herself. She was _beautiful._

_Such a beautiful flower cannot be seen crying… _

_For what is a rose, if not for its cherry, red face?_

That's how she always was to him. Well, ok. So a few words here and there could get lost in translation, but I believe that's not completely far form the truth.

He couldn't bear to see her cry.

Inuyasha prepared himself if he saw even a trace of a tear come down her cheek, but this night, it didn't. She just kept staring into the abyss of city lights in the horizon, holding up her fake smile upon her hands, resting her elbows on the cool, soft metal of the rails of her apartment building's ceiling.

There they were; a girl and her dog, a top of the world, on a sad night.

"I… I feel like a fool. If it weren't for me, this would have never happened…"

--------------------------

"I feel like an idiot. I made an idiot of myself, Sesshy."

The hospital days were over, yet everyone was still feeling down.

Rin stared blindly in front of her, dimming her eyes a bit and sighing a puff of cold air.

Sesshomaru looked at her from the corner of his eyes without turning back his head, and kept on walking.

Rin loved taking daily strolls in the park, and nothing could clear her head more than doing just that with her faithful companion.

Reality came back to her once Sesshomaru stopped, obviously pleased with the spot he had picked out for. Rin looked down at him and clicked off his leash. The lord walked towards some bushes just further up front and Rin sighed again. If it weren't for him, she would have been a goner right now. She owed him her life.

_I embarrassed everyone at the vet's the other day…Not to mention coming off as a total idiot._

She had only wanted to help Inuyasha out, but ended up at the hospital herself. Kagome asked her what had gotten into her for thinking up such a maneuver like that, but told her it was all her fault for not telling her that she never was going to go along with the insinuations she had made earlier that morning.

Rin just smiled. Sometimes she forgot not to trust in Kagome.

And now, standing in the park, alone, she started to cry.

-----------------------

Inuyasha scooted just a bit closer to Kagome with stealth, trying not to seem too readable. The girl soon looked down at how close both of them were to each other.

A warm smile appeared in the corner of her mouth and she sat down alongside him and cradled her arms around her knees, letting her head drop on her dog's side.

Inuyasha sweat dropped because of the closeness but reminded himself he had wanted that all along. So he leaned his own head on hers.

Sighing, and trying to forget everything going on in her mind for the moment, she asked, "Inuyasha… You'll protect me too, won't you? I mean, just like Sesshomaru did to Rin. You'll always be there for me, right?"

Her sudden choice in words surprised him, but he answered nonetheless. After all, his owner needed some comforting. His _love_ needed some comforting.

Yes. I will.

"_Woof"_

_-------------------------_

Rin had let out a few tears, but then chuckled from her stupidity_. And to think that I could have gone out through the hole in the vent that I had already gone through _twice_ when I was in Inuyasha's check-up room… Boy, that was dumb of me, huh!_

Rin was feeling better physically, but it seemed that what was getting her down now was the fact that she had screwed up.

_It's just like me… First my parents…then Kagome…and now…_

"Huh?" Rin noticed something moving in the distance and caught Sesshomaru's fur shining between some trees. Walking over she spotted him sitting up tall in the middle of a small mound, staring up into the sky.

Smiling, she came towards him slowly, enjoying any time she had alone with him. Something about him was just…different. Not because of how he acted, but because of something _in_ _him _she knew was special. Just like Inuyasha.

Rin knew she couldn't be dreaming. All the things she'd been hearing, witnessing, doing…these brothers weren't like any other common dogs, and she liked that. Soon she'd find out their secret, and that'll be the day her dreams would come true.

After all, she couldn't have said '_Lord_ Sesshomaru' for no reason, right? That word had come out of her mouth because she felt like saying it. It had seemed right somehow.

_There's magic here, Rin,_ she said to herself. _Magic._

Not making a sound and avoiding any rough movements that could ruin the peaceful atmosphere, she sat Indian style next to her lord and joined him in his star gazing, her mind running free with the wind's blow.

Nothing could replace times like these.

The girl lay in silence and the dog stood high and proud in the moonlight.

Sesshomaru acknowledged her presence without saying a word, and Rin didn't need one to know that he had so. It was just how he was.

_The moon and all its brightness…_

_reflects but the love I see in your eyes. _

A girl lay in silence and her dog stood high and proud in the moonlight. Nothing is said.

Rin smiled, closed her eyes and felt the sweet air rejuvenate her soul. She was safe, just as long as she was with _him._

"_Fluffy…"_

---------------------

Ok. So the sudden change of craziness to a little 'fluff' was awkward, not to mention Rin was…well…different. Hey, I needed the comic relief! And seeing that the boys aren't 'demon' yet... Hope you guys liked it! Of course I couldn't let the guys get…well, you know! I'd NEVER let something like that happen to them! And to think some of you actually thought I would!

THANK YOU for all the reviews, guys! I loved them, and they made me try harder to bring a good story to these pages. Keep 'em coming! (Don't worry, the dogs will be 'normal' soon!)

Well, review!


	6. Seeing in Red and White

Disclaimer: Me no own Inuyasha. Me only dream about kissing the cute _perrito's hermano grande_.

**-------------------------**

**Chapter 5: Seeing in Red and White**

"Alright, Inuyasha, what'll it be?" Kagome stepped back from the kitchen shelves and looked at him, waving some products in her hands. "I have some_ I can't believe it's not kibble,_ some fat-free dog chewies, one of those bones you like, and this thing that's been in here since forever that you've never even tasted. So, what are you going to eat for breakfast today, boy?"

Inuyasha had looked well at the objects while Kagome would point to them, but instead of answering her back, he turned his face to the right with a bark and eyes closed, seemingly uninterested in any of those things.

Kagome sighed. She knew she wouldn't win this one. Not when they were already late to go to the university and finish up on some things she needed to tend to. She'd have to give in, because hauling a hungry dog with you just isn't a good idea. She'd tried it before, and it had left her some strange looks from strangers whenever Inuyasha would whine and do his usual embarrassing stunts to get attention. Let's just say that somewhere a very deranged cat was not feeling too well, either.

Putting the things down she replied tiresome, "You wouldn't want more _ramen_ now, would you?"

Inuyasha instantly jumped up, tongue out, and barked with joy. His cute little scruffy tail wagged like crazy.

Kagome sighed again. Honestly, he'd eaten all the ramen in the house. Besides, she still wasn't sure she should even give him things like that. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and heating the thing up would take just a few minutes.

Inuyasha walked to the living room that was just a few paw prints away, and just as Kagome was getting the food ready, Rin walked out to the kitchen with just a sleeveless, short, yellow shirt on and her pink underwear, her lord following her just a few feet away from behind.

"Kagome, it's too early! Come on, it's a _Saturday_! Let's go to the park or something." Fluffy recognized the word 'park' and secretly hoped they would go there. He just loved to walk. And walk. Then walk some more for no apparent reason whatsoever.

"Rin, _you-know-who_ called me last night to say that a package had arrived for me at the office. You know how much I've been waiting for that thing I had ordered for, so there's no way I'm not going to go to the university to check it out. What if it's what I've been waiting for, huh? We could make history with those things!"

Rin sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. _I know._ I know how much you've been waiting for some _clothes_ to arrive from the mail, but seriously, we could be at the movies or something! Koga's still hitting on you, you know." Rin then made a smooching sound with her lips. "…And I just_ know_ he's dying for some action, Kags!" Once Inuyasha's hearing picked that up, he growled. Sesshomaru just ignored him.

Kagome kept heating the ramen. "Yeah. Hojo too. Can't they get the picture that I really don't want to go out with them for once? Sheesh."

"Oh, come on! I know Koga's a little…_persistent_…but Hojo's ok, right?"

Kagome didn't want to admit the real reason why she didn't want to go out with them. She was…confused. About what or why, though, she still didn't know. She felt like having a man in her life, but something inside her kept saying that the right one hadn't come along yet.

"Rin, just puts some pants on already, ok?"

Rin put a hand on her waist. "Uh-huh. Go ahead and change the subject. I'm not puttin' nothin' on until you answer me."

Kagome looked at her. "Then I guess you'll be leaving like this then, won't you?" She turned back to her ramen. "…Besides, Inuyasha's infected with Miroku's 'peeping Tom' disease. He's eyeing you right now."

Rin looked over at the hound, who hadn't taken his sight from her legs and behind for a while now. The face he had on would've meant _I only wish that Kagome were dressed like that!_

Sesshomaru, who looked toward the mutt, showed his teeth, reminding the other dog of _his _territory. Rin looked at them both from the corner of her eye. It was kinda funny.

Not long after there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it! Rin half jogged over and opened the door to find none other than her floor neighbor. "Oh, hi Sango! Good morning!"

Kagome chided back, "Hey! Haven't I told you to ask who it is before you open the door!"

"Hey Rin, hey Kagome, "chuckled Sango, her mysterious two-tailed cat following with a meow from between her feet.

"Well, don't just stand there, come in!" Rin gestured the two inside when…

"Hey there! What up, ladies!" A purple-shirted young man popped his head from the passage way, grinning from ear to ear.

Rin was startled. "Oh, uh…Miroku… what a pleasant surprise… heh heh."

That's when the man noticed that Rin was wearing practically nothing on and laughed a little and a drop of drool was starting to form under his bottom lip. Sango had noticed Rin but hadn't realized that her stupid boyfriend would appear in that same moment. She growled at his pervert ness, marched loudly towards the so-called munk-in-training, slapped him on the right cheek, and shut the door in his face with the strength and stature of a woman from the Amazons.

Rin sweat dropped. _Ouch. That was harsh._

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"Oh, come on now, guys, aren't you going to talk to me, please? We've left the house over an hour ago!" Miroku, who, by a miracle, was let in the same car as the three women, two dogs, a cat, and a hitch-hiking flea, was still pouting about nobody talking to him. The roommate's neighbors had been invited along for the ride.

"Oh, did I just hear something, or was it the radio, Kagome?"

Kagome answered from behind the staring wheel. "No, it's not the radio…actually, it's off. But I can turn it on if you want, Sango." Sango replied yes and Rin, in the passenger seat, found a tune they liked and kept it there.

Miroku, who sat in the back row with Inuyasha to his left and his brother to his right, sighed for the umpteenth time. Turning to look at the floor, he asked, "Why is it that I can never have good luck when it comes to women?" Inuyasha shrugged like a dog would while letting a small bark as if saying _I don't know._

Kilala mewed from her owner's lap between the two roommates and Rin suddenly remembered something. "Oh! And one more thing…we're not supposed to bring animals inside with us to where Kagome's going, so we have to keep a low profile." Kilala mewed again and Rin turned to look at Sesshomaru, who was sitting behind her and looking out the window, since nothing else in the car was interesting. The fact that his brother was beside him could make him puke at any time, so he was in no rush at looking somewhere else, anyways.

"Hey Fluffy, you alright back there?"

Sesshomaru's eyes widened, but instead of looking at her as he always did, he turned his face even farther away from the front seats and almost looking to the back of the car. Inuyasha knew just how much his brother hated to be called that name and chuckled a bit, receiving a kick in the lower region from the demon-formerly-known-as-lord-fluffy-sama.

Inuyasha whined and started a fight between the lord, whereas Miroku tried to duck from them both, but soon after got caught in the dog fight. All three girls up front sighed and replied as if one mind, _"Men,"_ Kilala finishing up with a 'meow'.

In the streets, between all the normal, strait-lined traffic there could be seen Kagome's little car zig-zagging its way from lane to lane, a rather strange dusk cloud emanating from the back seats.

When she had had enough of the scratching, biting, and hollering (all coming mostly from Miroku's yelps for help), Kagome screamed while closing her eyes shut and a vein popping from her head. "Hey! You guys better stop that horse playin' back there, or I'm turning this car around!" Since the boy's racket never seemed to calm down, Kagome chimed in again, this time, in her really angry voice.

"Inuyasha! I said, sit boy!" Just as his name was called, the mutt had stopped wide-eyed and mid-way of scratching the seat cushion, his right leg still caught inside Sesshomaru's jaw and his tail choking Miroku to death. But after the sit command, his collar shown a bright light and before you knew it, the whacky car that every other driver was trying to avoid in the streets was no longer a menace; it stopped working.

-----------------------

"Phew! We've finally made it!" Rin said, after what seemed like hours walking from their broken-down car towards Kagome's headquarters. The gang was walking almost in a single file line, all completely exhausted. They were too far away from home, and the university could be reached on foot from where their car had stopped working, but it was not as far as they had thought it would be.

"You don't have to keep rubbing it in!" screamed back Kagome, who's anger didn't mix too well with the mid-day sun. "How should I know that Inuyasha would trash the car!" She turned to look at him, who was way in the back of the group, hoping that that was a safe enough distance away from his lunatic owner. Seeking to calm down, Kagome tried her usual way of relaxing: "It's all you fault! Sit boy!"

Sadly enough, Inuyasha went down again. Miroku sweat dropped and silently praised the heavens above for making him a human male.

Rin butted in, "Kagome! Stop that! Don't you want to see if your package arrived yet!"

Kagome then remembered why all of them were there in the first place and a jolt of energy ran through her body, the girl leaving dead in her tracks a group of awe struck travelers, marveling at her speed. "Well, I guess that worked…better than I thought, actually…" The plan was to make Kagome leave Inuyasha alone, and she did. Rin started speeding up. "Hey, Kagome, wait for me!" while running, she looked back and screamed between breaths, "Come on, Sesshy! Hurry up!"

The dog obeyed and moved a little faster, Sango following tiredly after them, followed by Miroku with his arm stretched out at Sango, "Hey! Wait up!"

Inuyasha followed up a minute later, after finally being able to get up with the help of Myoga, who was biting his ear to make him move.

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"Whoa! That was refreshing!" Kagome whipped her mouth and passed the water bottle over to Rin.

The rest of the group had refreshed themselves as well once they had arrived at the University grounds, and were now inside Kagome's building. Kagome then started to fill in some papers before she could get permission to go in to the 'restricted' area of the facility, and later started leading her friends through a large hallway.

"You know Kagome; you've been waiting for this for so long. What if this isn't it?" Rin looked at her friend with doubt.

"Oh, this just has to be it! I told my colleagues to call me only on emergencies, and this was the only one I wrote on the list. For their sakes, Rin, this _has _to be what I'm looking for."

"Excuse me, but what exactly is it that you're so anxious about, Kagome?" asked Sango, while stroking Kilala's forehead gently.

Kagome stopped dead in her tracks, turned around with a swift movement of her feet, clasped her hands together, and came closer to Sango than anyone had ever been before- even Miroku. Sango almost fell back from the surprise and Kagome continued her over-excited motions with an inhuman laugh.

"_Clothes!"_

Sango sweat dropped. _All of _this_ for 'clothes'? _"Kagome, I'm into shopping just as much as you are, but don't you think that this--"

"No! Not just _any_ regular _vestimenta_…"

Rin rolled her eyes. Oh great. _Now_ she practices her Spanish.

"…but the most precious pair of garment any history-lover could ever wish for! It's centuries old and miraculously still untouched since the day it was made!" Her friends sometimes forgot just how much of a history freak she was.

Miroku's mind ringed in a question. "But if it's been untouched since who knows when, How did it come to get inside the mailing system, I wonder…"

Kagome looked at him with fiery eyes, making a very purple-loving monk-in-training hide behind Inuyasha on the floor.

"Argh! You know what I mean! Besides, this is priceless stuff we're dealing with! You guys are about to witness 500-hundred year-old--"

Before she could finish her vivid speech, Sesshomaru suddenly barked, a rare feat for him to do so for no apparent reason, and was last seen running like the wind towards a door further down the hallway.

Not a second later something similar had happened to Inuyasha as well, for he too was running like mad after the lord.

The humans and kitty looked at them flabbergasted, until Kagome realized, "Wait! They can't run in here! There's a whole bunch of irreplaceable valuables in here!"

Rin put her hands on her hips. _So _now_ she understands what I mean by, 'don't bring the dogs in here'? But _nooo_; no one listens to _Rin. _Rin is wrong. Rin is too young. Rin is…_

"Yikes! And they're headed towards my office!" Kagome flew down the hallway, followed closely by a still very tired couple.

Rin blinked._ Rin is going to be left behind if she stays talking to herself like this._

Before she started to run as well, she slapped herself on the cheek. _Why is Rin still talking to herself? And more importantly, why is Rin referring to herself in the _third_ person!_

Trying to shake off her unusual family heritage, she darted off.

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Kagome had finally arrived at her office door and found out that it had been forced opened, some claw marks and bite marks on the door a visible evidence of the culprits who had let themselves in. Fearing the worst, she made her way inside without further hesitation, and what she saw almost made her faint.

There were remains of what seemed to be a big, hard-wood box in the middle of the room, bits of straw scattered all over the floor. Kagome's eyes thinned with horror, but nothing could prepare her for what she saw next.

Each dog was prodding with his nose something colorful on the ground, their tails wagging like crazy.

"Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, no! Bad dogs, _bad dogs_!" Kagome's shrieks startled the canines, who had yet to notice her presence fully in the room. As they looked up from where they stood, Sesshomaru's eyes shown with such light, like something Kagome had ever seen in him. It was as if he was…happy…or something like that. Inuyasha, however, had gone from pure joy reflected in his face to an innocent looking one. The fact the a 'sit' command was in his near future had yet to dawn on him, but what he felt somewhat sorry for was the fact that Kagome was disappointed in him, and though it was rare, he knew he didn't like that feeling it gave him.

The eyes of the three stayed glued to each other's own pair, giving enough time for the rest of the gang to witness the massacre of Kagome's dreams, shattered on the floor like two hopeless bunnies that were mercilessly killed by these two, ferocious, mad dogs.

The couple gasped, Kilala meowed, and when it was Rin's turn to react, she was left speechless.

How could her fluffy-kins do such a thing! She then knew that her life as a dog owner was over. Kagome could forgive a lot of things, but this was her dream. Her work had been her life. The feudal era's history hadn't been one of her majors for nothing, and now…

Rin walked over to the mess to see how much damage had been done. Fearing the worst, and still not strong enough to look at Kagome who had been staring at the floor for some time now, bangs obscuring her eyes, she walked over to where her dog was, surrounded by many unusual objects and picked up what looked like the most odd-looking 500-year-old wearing accessory thing with her hand and stood up to examine it. Sesshomaru barked softly after she did so and followed her with his sight as she held a long, fluffy, and white fur-scarf-look-alike.

Rin examined it well and before she knew it, she was smiling. Quickly she looked all around the floor, which made her smile even broader. "Hey, Kagome, I don't think anything got ruined. Look!"

Kagome looked up slowly, Inuyasha's 'sit' not said because of her shock. What she saw made her gasp. "What?…but…but…I…" she walked slowly over to Rin, both dogs not moving an inch and just following her with their eyes.

Rin handed Kagome the weird object, and stood back to let her friend catch her breath.

After a few seconds of pure bewilderment, Kagome spoke up. "But this is…this is…"

"Lord Sesshomaru's boa! Yes! That's it! _It's Lord Sesshomaru's pelt_! Haha! By golly, I did it! I've finally found it! This is a dream come true!" Myoga started jumping up and down from between Inuyasha's fur, yelling loud enough to scream his little heart out in content, and yet, soft enough that no human heard him. Kilala and the boys did, but they were fine with the flea; the cat had found out about him weeks ago, and never seemed bugged by his presence. (Get it, bugged? Bugged? Aw pewee.)

"A woman's scarf of some kind?" Sango finally concluded, making Myoga fall down, anime style.

"Yes! That must be it!" cried Rin, excited that the dogs hadn't ruined Kagome's things. "And look at the rest of 'em, Kags!"

Kagome was baffled because she was told to expect male possessions, though how this thing that looked like it came from a movie star's neck come to be in there was a mystery to her. Looking down at the floor she gasped again; it seemed that the boys really hadn't ruined the garments after all!

Looking to her left she saw a bit of what seemed to be like black armor of some sort and a silken, white cloth with beautiful designs of red and white patterns of flowers on them; kneeling to her left was a beautiful red kimono, along with the white garment that goes underneath. Almost afraid to pick it up, for what was here was years of hard work, studying, and endless nights of no sleep to be able to find and acquire real, Feudal Era evidence,- and it was all here, just inches away from her grasp!

This was her dream, to find something that only legends could talk about, and she finally did it! She finally got a hold for her professional (but still on a personal level) dream of having real-life history pieces! The joy! The beautiful pattern and workmanships! The wonderful smell! The priceless material! The wet and sticky...hey!

Kagome made a disgusted face when she had touched a slick of slob on one of the sleeves of the red kimono. Looking at Inuyasha, the owner of the slob, she was just too happy to punish him for getting her things wet, especially with the look of shame in his eyes. Of course, sometimes he did it to escape a terrible chiding, but this time Kagome knew that he meant it.

Inuyasha was glad, too, to have found his long-lost wear, but was saddened at how his actions had made Kagome feel. Now that she was ok with it, he decided to get an opportunity at his belongings again when she wasn't looking. The same thing went for Sesshomaru. Even though the dog's recollection of why in fact they were so drawn to their cloths had yet to dawn on them, something inside them told them that it had something to do with their beings.

Myoga hit himself on the head. He couldn't believe how he could forget Kagome's history obsession! If he would have remembered that sooner, he could have gotten possession of the boy's clothes even faster probably. But no need for that now; Kagome had saved him the trouble of finding the last ingredient for the transformation spell to work, and he couldn't be happier. Now all he needed was to get his miniscule hands on them before the kimonos could escape his grasp again.

Rin laughed and was slowly joined by Kagome and a still confused Sango and Miroku. She was glad that Kagome had finally received the fruit of her work and that their dogs hadn't ruined them either.

Picking up the red Kimono Kagome had in her hands to see it herself, she then was caught in a sneezing frenzy and immediately dropped the fabric on the floor. Falling to the floor and gripping her sides with her now burning hands, Kagome tended to her friend in worry to see what was the matter.

It was then that Myoga put two and two together and realized that Inuyasha's kimono was made from the fur of the fire rat and that Rin was allergic to rats. Hoping the girls wouldn't do away with the kimonos, he prayed that neither of them would notice what was going on.

After a while, Rin reassured Kagome that she was fine, that maybe she had sneezed because of some dust from the boxes, and tried to calm her friend down, not wanting to ruin the day that she had been waiting to happen for so long. She hid her hands from everyone's view and figured she would deal with that later. But she couldn't fool Sesshomaru, who kept guard if anything else would happen to her.

The gang got a ride with one of Kagome's studying companions and brought the things from the boxes with them to her apartment, all the while Rin stayed clear of them just in case that they were the cause of her allergies.

To try and get on the girl's good side, Miroku stayed behind to make sure that Kagome's car would get towed and get fixed. Kilala offered him her company.

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And this one goes out to all those unlucky boyfriends like Miroku out there! Hope you guys liked it, and stay tuned for the next chappie! If you know what's good for you, you will!

Did my hints of what's coming next give you a clue of what's coming up?

Review, and the transformation fairy will come to visit soon!


	7. Sea of Transformation

Disclaimer: Inuyasha I own not.

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**Chapter 6: Sea of Transformation**

Kagome ran frantically from one end of her room to the other while picking up things here and there to make the boy's outfits look even better if possible. Ever since the day she and her friends got the package that was dropped off at her office, she had spent every breathing moment to tend to the cloths, making them cleaner, brighter, shinier, and smelling better than they ever had been in their half millennia life span.

It was hard, though, since every now and then she'd catch one of the dogs doing what could only be compared to as to trying to wear the garments, but getting caught in the middle of their scheme. It was insane! It's like they gravitated toward the clothes when they never showed liking to any before. The girls had no explanation for it.

Once Inuyasha had been caught jumping about with his haori on, his paws barely making it through the sleeves, but Kagome found out about it and he spent a whole night sleeping outside their apartment.

Sesshomaru attempted the same, but to his surprise, he wasn't as smooth as he used to be, and was caught dragging around the boa on his back while holding part of his armor in his jaw. Rin had seen him and the first thing she did was laugh. He looked so adorable, especially with the little boots in his hind paws. Lucky for him she never told Kagome about it, or he'd still be in time out for misbehaving.

Kagome was so into her discovery that nothing could be better than getting the clothes ready for their display in her office and for her own work purposes. She had even neglected her household chores, something she had never done before, and Inuyasha had been left with only half an owner for a whole week now, since she only took care of the wardrobe instead of looking after her dog. He couldn't even sleep in her room like he was used to doing. Thankfully Rin was there to cheer him up every once and a while, when ever Sesshomaru wasn't looking.

The girl's habits made the days seem duller than they had ever been and the rest of the household was bored and tired of her not making time for them. So after a week, Rin decided that she had had enough. She walked over to Kagome's room and knocked on the door in a code that she had told her, to know if it was Rin at the door, or one of the dogs trying to get inside the clothes again. Somehow they could even make it inside with the doors locked, so Kagome practically lived inside her room in fear they would ruin her work.

Rin opened the door slowly after receiving a reply and looked at her friend who was, like always, running around like a maniac and treating the clothes on her bed like royalty. She suddenly sneezed and remembered to keep a safe distance away from the clothes because of her weird allergies against them. That was part of the reason why she hadn't bothered to help Kagome out or go in her room before, just in case her symptoms acted out again. Kagome never noticed, but the dogs knew, somehow, though they could do nothing because of it. After following her with her sight for a while, she asked in an annoyed tone, "Kagome, what are you doing?"

Kagome didn't even turn to look at her and continued with her work. "Well, I noticed last night that there was another wrinkle on the haori and I just _had_ to iron it again!" Rin sighed and shook her head. Leave it to Kagome to be such a clean freak and spend a whole week just playing around with unfashionable clothes from the yester years. "Hey! Did you close the door, Rin?" Rin grunted and looked behind her. She could se the dogs in the hallway, looking sadly at the room, wagging their tales slowly; Inuyasha more so than his brother.

Rin turned to look at Kagome and said plainly, "No" and crossed her arms.

"Well then, close it! We don't want the dogs getting in here, do we?" Again, she failed to face Rin.

That was it. Rin held her hands into fists. "Kagome, look at you! You're like...like…like some robot ever since that came in the mail! You barely eat or sleep and you don't even talk to me anymore, except give me some stupid orders, like 'close the door, Rin,' and 'beware of the dogs, Rin.' Well let me tell you something, missy," she pointed her index finger at Kagome's back, "I'm tired of this! I can't take it anymore and I'm not gonna! Sure, I put up with you the first three days, but this has just gone too far!" Kagome kept tending to her things and Rin growled and shouted again, "Kagome! Aren't you even listening to me! Look at Inuyasha! Just look at him! Do you think he's happy, too!"

It was then that Kagome stopped and turned to look at the passage way where their dogs where. She noticed their sad looks, and heard Inuyasha whine a little. For a second she fell badly for him, remembering just how much she loved him too and had neglected him attention, and smiled shortly before realizing the door was open. "Rin! I thought I told you to close the door!"

"If you care more about some…some _stupid_ piece of wool than your own family, than I suggest you stay in your room forever! I'm leaving, and I'm taking the kids with me!" she yelled, and stormed out of the room towards the front door of the apartment.

Kagome didn't understand how her friend could b so selfish, especially if she knew just how this whole thing meant to her. After all, she'd been waiting forever for this package to come in the mail, and Rin knew that better than anyone. She screamed back, "And where will you go, huh!"

"Like you care!" Rin shouted, making up her mind and running back to her room, slamming the door shut behind her and crying silently in her pillow.

"Fine then! See if I care!" Kagome screamed back. Getting a last look at their dogs, Sesshomaru had pranced up to Rin's door and was rubbing his nose on it, probably sensing his master's need for comforting. Inuyasha had his head down and looked at Kagome with the saddest eyes she had ever seen. Se knew she was wrong but didn't want to handle that right now, so she slammed her own door, and hid inside her room again.

After a while Rin noticed the sound of her best friend's low call, and she whiped away a few tears, sniffed her nose, and opened her door to let Sesshomaru come in. He did so gladly and instantly jumped onto her, his paws on her shoulders. Rin started sobbing again, since she rarely received even this much comfort from him, and she sank back in her bed with him on top of her, clenching his ears and burring her face in his fur. "Oh Sesshy! What do I do?" He prodded his nose close to her ear, the only thing he could do in her tight grip.

Minutes seemed like hours, but once Rin got a hold of herself, she got up and walked toward the small living room. Sesshomaru followed close behind. Inuyasha was on the floor looking down in the dumps, with only Myoga to comfort him, standing on his nose. He hid once Rin came in.

Rin sighed and stroked the dog on his head, but received no response. "Do you want something to eat, Inuyasha?" Still not responding, Rin left him a dish full of canned food and some water on the side. "I'll be back in a while, ok?" she told him, but still didn't get anything back from him. She knew he was devastated, but she had to clear her own mind first before she could deal with him.

She grabbed her things and Sesshomaru's leash from the counter and headed out the front door, whistling, "Come here, boy! Come here, Fluffy! Let's go for a walk!" Sesshomaru headed out with her; he didn't need to be told twice to leave the confines of his very small home, especially after one of the girl's fights. He got used to him and Rin taking walks to clear her mind after things like that and complied.

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While Kagome was tending to her masterpieces she thought more and more about how she'd been acting lately and realized how horrible she must have looked. She knew she had to make it up to them, but knew she wanted to finish everything first so she wouldn't have to think about it anymore and get it over with so she could finally send the clothes back to her office and not worry about the dogs ruining them anymore.

Myoga had kept an eye on her all this time so that she wouldn't damage the garments although he knew she'd treat the boy's clothes with her life, since history _was_ her life. He knew he didn't have much time before she'd take away the clothes again, and he needed them for the transformation. Thinking this day would be perfect, he decided to get all the things ready, and left his master's snout to prepare for the day.

The flea took to his secret hiding places and slowly arranged everything as they should be when the time came, knowing that it was easier to leave everything indoors and wait until the perfect time to activate the Shikon Jewel, which meant having Kagome near by as well. Thinking it would be wise to transform the guys indoors, he'd then find a way to deal with the women freaking out later. He spent most of his day doing just that.

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After a while Kagome had finally finished what she was doing and was pleased. She stood with her hands on her hips, marveling at the two most beautiful possessions she could have ever had. Since the girl didn't want to risk damaging the garments in any way, she had laid both of them on her bed, stretched out as if in use. The haori's sleeves almost seemed like butterfly wings the way they were laid, and Kagome couldn't see why people those day in age wore such baggy and possibly hot clothing. One thing she did marvel at, though, was their strength.

She had accidentally passed the scissors too close to the fabric once while cleaning it, but nothing happened. In fact, the instrument almost snapped in two! Kagome was amazed at it; it was nothing she had seen before. It was as of the fabric was made from some strong material unheard of. Another thing she was grateful for was the fact that she hadn't damaged anything. Boy, would she be in trouble then! And she would make sure that nothing happened to them, that no one even dare touch them, not even lay a paw on her treasure! It had taken her years to get her hands on any type of ancient artifact she could find, and all her hard work had finally paid off. Of course, one thing she didn't know was that in her search for her own dreams, she had helped out two miserable four-pawed youkai descendents make their own come true.

After looking at Inuyasha's robes to her satisfaction, she suddenly felt a warm tingling in her stomach and decided it had been too long since she had gone to the little girl's room. Peeking her head out from the corner of the passageway, she noticed that Rin and Fluffy were gone and spotted Inuyasha silently watching a special on ancient swords on the TV, which was one of his favorite topics to watch, for some reason. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to take a quick break she closed her bedroom door and fast-walked over to the bathroom, being as quiet as possible, to not disturb her pup.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, had kept a close ear on his master's doings and heard her go into the bathroom. Immediately, he got up from the couch and ran to her room, starting to scratch open her closed door around the knob. After a few tries and scraps on the wood, he managed to open the door and jumped in and sniffed his way to the clothing. First stopping at Sesshomaru's which was beside his own he held back a chance at giving it a whiz and jumped onto the bed to examine his haori. Never had he been so happy to see his old wear! He rolled on the bed and on the fabric, getting fur all over it—not to mention his happy slob, too.

Being so caught up in this, he failed to notice the bathroom's door open, and didn't even realize Kagome had gone into her room after she yelled at him like mad for what he was doing.

Inuyasha almost had a heart attack from the screech, and thought that his master would kill him from the way she looked at him. Again, Naraku would have been less terrifying, if he could even remember the guy. Knowing that this was one of those times that he regretted being in his dog state, he whined helplessly while Kagome yanked him from the fur behind his neck, dragging his butt out of her apartment, and slamming the door after him.

After Kagome finally found that her heart beat again, she quickly started to work on Inuyasha's clothes again, hoping that they hadn't been damaged somehow. Inuyasha stayed moping in the front door's hallway, hoping that somehow he could get back to his ensemble, up until Kagome opened the front door and made him come inside which, he found out later, was a wish he wanted to take back.

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After a few hours out, Rin and Sesshomaru had finally arrived home from their walk. Rin's mind and heart were refreshed and she felt a lot better.

But the first thing they were greeted with was a yapping hound and a delirious Kagome. Both knew that it was probably Inuyasha's bath time, so they ignored the insanity and went into the kitchen. _Well, at least she's doing something different for once and Inuyasha is getting to spend time with her now, _she thought.

Turning to her dog, she asked very giddy and politely, "So, what do you want, Sesshomaru? Water, beef, some fruit, perhaps? Or does my _wittle puppy wuggie_ want a doggie biscuit?" Rin was now face to face with Sesshomaru, holding his snout in her hands and shaking it tenderly from side to side. Sesshomaru snarled at her comment and showed a fang while scrunching his eyebrows. Rin laughed. "Oh, come on! I'm only kidding, my little sugar cup!"

Rin stood up and started grabbing things from the cabinets. "Steak it is!" Her dog looked away and walked over to the couch, got up on it with the grace he always showed, and stood laying there, watching his human cook him a meal.

Inuyasha and Kagome were still fighting on the other side of the apartment in the bathroom and they could hear every bit of their argument.

"I said, sit boy! Sit, sit, sit!" Inuyasha yelped for the upteenth time, inwardly hoping Kagome wouldn't do that anymore. He fell jaw-first onto the tub's floor, but not without letting yet another pained whine. The bathroom was a mess; as always, there were suds everywhere and water was reaching the door, not to mention a very angry and wet Kagome was complaining once again about how the gods were punishing her for all her wrong doings in a previous life by giving her this mutt to live with.

Inuyasha couldn't complain too much, though, since he had gotten off on a "light" punishment, according to Kagome, after getting his paws on the clothes. The girl had thought that treating her dog for fleas and later giving him a bath would be wicked enough, giving him a well deserved punishment, in her mind. After all, he hated getting flea treatments and getting a bath!

Kagome kept scrubbing her dog in ways that could give him skin rash, forgetting that she was so mad at him for something else that she could actually hurt the dog. After making air bubbles underwater, Inuyasha got up and began jumping again, trying to avoid Kagome's rough scrubbing. Doing so, he made the majority of the water from the half-filled tub spill, which earned him another 'sit' and made Kagome turn on the shower to finally rinse him off.

In the kitchen, Rin had already begun cooking the steak while humming a tune, thinking that sometimes she could be just too soft on her Sesshomaru. Putting down her utensil and turning down the fire, she looked towards her dog and her eyes met with his beautiful, unique golden ones. Never had he laid his sight away from her ever since they walked inside the apartment. Rin suddenly blushed for some reason and let out a small, quick smile, walking over to her room to fetch something.

Sesshomaru followed her with his sight until she came back, apparently holding something behind her back. He turned his head as she sat next to him, and wagged his tail lightly when she pulled out his brush. Not wasting any time, he dropped to the floor, arranged himself in front of the couch between her legs, and closed his eyes as she started combing his brilliant fur.

Rin smiled; she loved combing his fur as much as her dog loved being combed. Combing from the top of his head towards the hair on the base of his tail, she repeated the motions until she needed to check on the steak again.

She started to get up when Sesshomaru opened his eyes and turned his gaze to hers, almost as if pleading for her not to stop. Rin noticed this and thought that one more minute wouldn't hurt, and sat back down again, stroking her dog once more. This time around, Sesshomaru started to hum very quietly, thinking that even she couldn't hear him. But she could, as she always heard him hum when she combed his fur.

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At another part of the apartment, Myoga was checking his list, and checking it twice, _¨Gonna find out who's naughty or nice…¨_ The flea mentally slapped himself. This was no time to indulge in futuristic tall tails!

Going over Kikyo's list again and checking that everything was just right, he looked down at the pile of the miscellaneous rubbish he needed for the grand transformation. He also made sure to put in some extra little nothings to cure Rin´s rat allergies, one reason being that that was the least he could do for the women who had put up with his lords; second, because the three might be needing some further assistance from the girls and third, because having one of them allergic to one of his masters could make things a little more difficult than they already were and would become.

Thanks to Inuyasha´s recent bath, Myoga had enough time to swipe away the boy's cloths and lay them alongside everything else on the floor. Near by were the two swords, Tenseiga and the Tetsusaiga. Making sure that both his masters were inside the apartment so both were to transform at the same time, just in case the jewel disappeared after the wish, he sprinkled a few powders and glitter here and there, danced a little jig, said the magic words, hoping for the best.

A flicker of light and a small spark emitted from the pile of rubbish, but that was it. After a few seconds of nothing, he noticed what was missing. _The Shikon Jewel, of course! How could I forget that!_

Running as fast as his little legs could get him since Inuyasha´s bath time was almost over, he slipped under the bathroom's door and caught sight of Kagome under all the spilled soap and suds. Saying the last of the enchanted words that Kikyo had left him, he screamed the last line with all his might.

"_Heed my words, oh powerful Jewel, and make them as they were, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru!"_

Kagome looked behind her gasping, thinking she had heard a voice, but fell back unbalanced once the room started shaking. She clutched her chest hard that burned in horrible pain and let out a scream, making Rin turn her head toward the bathroom door, which was now emitting some strange, blinding light.

"_Kagome!"_

Suddenly the lights flickered out all over the city and Rin gasped afraid; after a second or two they came on again, but this time, followed by a strange change in the breeze, _inside _their apartment. Noises surrounded them, as if _things_ were tapping on their glass windows and a loud hum vibrated throughout their walls.

Grey, then dark clouds started forming outside whirling wildly, encircling their apartment home. Thunder started to rumble and crack and lighting shook the city, making all of it's inhabitants run frantically towards the nearest shade, thinking it was going to start to rain.

But in a matter of seconds the ground started to shake with the power of an earthquake and made the alarms of parked cars cry, some cars sinking in the cracks that formed from the earth and the streets began to fill with many accidents of all kinds when drivers couldn't stop their moving cars, since their breaks didn't work. Grocery bags spilled on the floor and people fell to their knees, clutching tightly to their hats, children and loved ones, all screaming. Anyone left standing was thrown down on the cold, hard ground.

Walls started crumbling apart and fell from stories up, crashing down onto unsuspecting victims on the sidewalks. Objects fell from the balconies of buildings, often flying around in the monstrous wind before being thrown against something solid, breaking into millions of tiny pieces, mixing within falling leaves and other glass whirling in the air, stabbing at anything they pierced through. Power lines broke loose and whipped the air, lashing away at anything close to them and sending afire whatever they touched. Wicked rain started pouring down on everything, and the sun seemed to disappear, leaving everything in total darkness.

Never had there been such a chaotic scene; not in over five hundred centuries!

This went on for about a mile surrounding the girl's apartment, but everything beyond that check point was normal. The inhabits outside the scene witnessed it in pure horror, and soon the thing only described as some sort of nature's wraths was all over the news. This freak of nature kept wounding its fierce, howling winds around that small part of town like a hurricane, hurling anything light enough through the skies, including unlucky by standers and inhabitants that were thrown mercilessly away from the madness and hundreds of yards across town to their death. Things got worse once the electricity started to flicker on and off, finally shutting down completely and a bright, pinkish light shown masterfully across the skies, growing bigger and brighter by the second, spreading like a massive wave atop everything.

Inside the apartment, everything was less intense, though it still made the girls afraid for their lives. The doors flung open and shut like crazy and their furniture rolled around everywhere. They thought their building was being shook from side to side and thrown up and down as they screamed and covered their heads, thinking that the apocalypse must have caught up to them. There was little they could do and everything made their train of thought go blank, so they were lost in what seemed like in an eternity of nightmares. At times they remembered their canine companions, though they couldn't make their bodies out from all the blinding light and the noise of the wind and of things crashing down to the floor in their rooms. Some of them managed to cut the girls all over their bodies and felt as if they were being sliced, as lines of dirty blood dripped and flew in the air. Rin was a little better off, but Kagome still hurt from the Shikon Jewel in her body and she felt she would die from a pain she had never experienced before.

The dogs barked and growled at first then whined and howled as if being killed-- but for some reason their calamity ceased in the middle of the storm-like wrath, which worried the girls. Not only that, but strange noises started erupting from their rooms, almost as if some enraged monsters had made their way inside. They seemed hungry, angry, demonic, and ready to kill. The women feared for their lives as the horrific and grotesque snarls and roars filled their ears, but were left helpless once they tried to open their eyes, seeing nothing but blinding light in front of them. They weren't able to move at all, and they tried to hold out until everything stopped shaking and spinning.

The last they heard were those ghastly screams that changed from beast-like cries of pain and anger to almost human-like yells of terror that echoed in their heads over and over again and wouldn't go away, a small twister of light forming in front of each of them, engulfing their cries.

_The sea of transformation had begun._

In time the earth stopped shaking and the lightning and thunder withdrew some, but the sky was still as dark as night and the angry clouds were now floating in circles around the top of the apartment building. The streets calmed a bit, and fewer things fell and crashed onto the apartment floor. The girl's consciousness began to waken as the bright, pink light dimmed some, finally dying out.

Myoga had held on to dear life on the closed bathroom door, and once the room stopped moving he let go of it and looked towards his hanyou master, afraid that something was amiss. He desperately pleaded to his gods that everything turned out right, that he hadn't messed up the incantation and ritual, and that his lord's two sons were finally the way they should have been.

But something seemed wrong—something Myoga couldn't put his flea-finger on, and he knew that he had made a deadly mistake somehow.

One that could earn him a quick visit to his one-inch grave.

---------------------------

Dun dun dun! I know, I know! I'm EVIL! I almost hit myself when I noticed I hadn't updated in a month! Bad, bad ss pie! Worst of all, I left this chap in a cliffy! Ahh!

Sorry guys, but it ain't over yet! And you _know_ what's good for you when I say you DON'T WANT TO MISS the next chapter! So help me God, I'll be updating in a week!

Read and Review, that's my motto. Trust me; you'll be coming back for more!


	8. The Naked Truth

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, yatta, yatta, yatta.

Sorry for the tardiness. I had problems logging in for days now.

Caution: slight bad mouthing ahead. XD

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**Chapter 7: The Naked Truth**

The apartment was in a terrible mess, the word "pigsty" far from even scratching the truth of what it looked like. Thankfully, the rooms had stopped shaking and the storm had seemed to die out. Myoga was the only living thing that was able to maintain consciousness through the whole experience, his height being a miraculous advantage that kept him from getting hit badly like the girls had been.

The flea had held on to dear life on the closed bathroom door, and once the room stopped moving he let go of it and looked towards his hanyou master, afraid that something was amiss. He had heard their screams and howls of pain, but couldn't see what was happening to them. He desperately pleaded to his gods that everything turned out right, that he hadn't messed up the incantation and ritual, and that his lord's two sons were finally the way they should have been.

But something seemed wrong, something he couldn't put his finger on, and he looked on with high hopes and prayers to the tub where his hanyou lord had been given a bath. Suddenly, in five blinks of an eye, the sky's dark demeanor began to swirl around the building like a hurricane, the clouds and fierce wind encircling the top of the apartment building. The pinkish light that had flooded the streets like a huge wave earlier on was now returning in a flash, with the power of a thousand horses, pulled by the gravity of the Shikon Jewel. The earth shook again, but this time because of the force of this new attack. Light engulfed everything it touched like a sheer blanket, finally resting at the top of the apartment building.

There, it shot in like a hunter on its prey, caused the rooms to toss and turn for a small moment, and then let itself be swallowed up into the Shikon Jewel. Kagome's unconscious body arched its back as it inhaled the power of the Jewel, and once it finished, she shown like an angel that had fallen peacefully asleep, and all was calm.

Outside, everything-- from the streets and the people, the cars and the light poles—everything seemed to magically return to normal as the blinding light touched them, the once cemetery of destruction now spotless, as if nothing had happened. Once it arrived at the top floor at the girl's apartment building the world outside showed not the terrible disaster it had taken part of; people resumed their places on the streets either walking, playing, talking, and those ho had died were alive and well, as if they had never perished. Cars ran normally again, and all was at peace-- until every soul there awoke and was startled, as if they had come from a horrible, shared nightmare. It was like an unexplainable, unheard of dei-jah-vu they had all gone through together, but no one knew why and were left in a daze for a while, ceasing to react around their environment, resulting in new cars crashing into each other and accidents were had again, but this time, because no one could remember being in their positions before. Still, it was nothing compared to what they had gone through before and for their own sakes, the memory of it all was hidden well behind their minds, remanding like a mixture between a sad dream and a reality.

Inside the apartment there were no signs of the catastrophe that had past through there, the environment seeming warm and inviting as always. The meal Rin was preparing continued to cook on its own on the stove, and Rin's body resumed its original position on the couch, when she had been stroking Sesshomaru's fur. Her hand held the brush.

Inside the bathroom, Myoga lifted himself up from the floor, since that last assault had caught him by surprise. But once he opened his eyes, the fact that the place looked perfectly unharmed—aside from the fact that Inuyasha's wetting and soaping the whole place earlier on was still visible, nothing was out of the ordinary.

The Jewel had returned everything to its rightful state before the transformation had begun.

Just then the light of the Jewel sparkled and Myoga had to cover his eyes again, though he managed to see it glowing from its position in Kagome's chest. It was then that Kagome's back arched up again, but this time, she gasped for air as if she had been drowning, and started coughing, rolling over to her side. Her mind was in a little daze, but once she got hold of herself, she realized she was alright and that she was still in their bathroom. But the memory of some of the things that had just happened came back to her in a swift, and she got frightened again for her life. Myoga just stayed and watched. He was still speechless and startled form the whole thing to even come to explain all that had just happened to himself.

The shower was turned on, and Kagome was shivering on the floor while covering her head with her arms. Still afraid of what she could witness once she opened her eyes, she peeked an eye open and looked at the floor under her.

The first thing she noticed was the water running, and that she felt as if she had been plunged in a pool from the water dripping down her face, hair, and clothes. She was soaked! The next thing she noticed was the silence that followed the water running. Grasping for her valor, she quickly stretched out from her previous squatting position and looked around the bathroom, hoping that her place was still in one piece—or at least still standing that she didn't have to fear the building collapsing with her still in it.

Then one very important thing went through her mind: Rin had gone inside the apartment as well! Horrid images of her friend either dead or brutally hurt came racing through her mind and, trying to fight them back, was about to stand up when she heard the water in the half-filled tub splash a little, almost as if moved by some one, or some _thing._

Turning her sight back to the tub and still on the floor, her breath caught in her throat when the first thing that she saw was a human-like figure standing up from the tub soaked wet, water running down the tanned, slick body, silverish hair clinging to it in all places.

It almost seemed like time slowed down in that instance, and Kagome could only follow with her eyes what seemed to be the head of that humanly figure, the two pointed, white peeks on it getting her particular attention. The peeks had perked up from their fallen position on the base of what seemed to be like the creature's head, and were now moving slightly as the whole body lifted up from the tub, halting around three feet above Kagome´s eye range and showing a manly face in a slumber-like state.

Kagome fell back in pure shock and maintained in an upright position thanks to her arms, which were the only things about her that were strong enough to withstand this situation. Her mouth dropped open in both shock and fear, and any memory of the room she was in, Rin, or the storm she had just been in vanished completely from her mind.

Her mouth now quivered as she studied the face of the man-like creature, following its hair down its body and discovering his arms, chest and waist, all signs of a human man, and a well-toned one at that. Looking at his hands now, she couldn't help but tense up more from the very sharp nails it had, which looked more like claws. She hoped now more than anything that this creature was friendly, whatever it was.

Her eyes reached now to his lower region, which made her blush like wild; never had she seen a naked man before, and what she saw made her positive that this was a _man. _

Trying to clear her mind of naughty thoughts, she continued down his legs until she saw them move. Fighting back a scream, she jerked her head upward as fast as lightning and witnessed the man's eyebrows scrunch together, as if disturbed from his sleep, somehow. Kagome crawled back an inch, but that was as far as she got when she froze again as she saw his eye lids draw up slowly.

The man's eyes were now visible, and they stayed in a mesmerizing state until they came to blink again, apparently now more focused at where they were. Kagome's breath caught up in her throat again as she saw that they were shinny, golden eyes, knowing that no human could have such alien eyes. His dark, slit pupils gave them away more than anything.

The young woman's body was now shaking, and she never let astray her sight from the stranger's two deadly yet beautiful orbs for one second. In a way she wanted the stranger's gaze to meet hers, but at the same time she hoped that in some way he couldn't see her there, just in case he was a foe.

But the stranger _did _seem to notice her nervousness and fear, for his head turned slowly to her and his golden eyes locked with her chocolate ones. Kagome's heart first skipped a beat as they looked at each other, and then began pounding in her chest like mad. What should she feel? Nervousness, fear, or was she enlightened? The man's gaze lingered on her for a while, and the two seemed lost in a dreamy state together.

For all she knew the guy could be hungry and she was her next meal! She tried to cry out to Rin or anyone that could come to her rescue, but she was still speechless. That's when the man's face finally shown a gesture different from bewilderment and shock as he did a double take on Kagome, and his once calm, angelic face turned into an angry one.

The young man pointed an angry claw at her, making strands of his wet hair fall from his arm, some still sticking to it. He yelled. "Hey! You're that bitch! What kind of a bitch do you think you are, scrubbing me like that! I swear, you practically pealed my skin to the bone, you wench!"

The man turned around to look at his back, looking for any damage from the scrubbing he had received and flashed Kagome yet again, this time, with his tight buttocks. Kagome still couldn't move, nor speak, nor blink, and for some strange reason she didn't want to, either. She couldn't.

The man turned around to Kagome again, lifting his fist up this time. "Grr! Your lucky I'm still in one peace, woman!" Now Kagome noticed something else about him: his _fangs._ This made her eye twitch a little, but the rest of her still remained motionless.

The man then noticed his fist at the end of his arms and held back a yell. Doing another double take he brought his fist up to his face and uncurled his fingers one by one, finally studying his open palm, then the back of his hand, startled and confused.

He did the same with his other hand and this time, was marveled! An excited and happy grin spread from each corner of his mouth and he then continued to study his arms, chest, hair, back, manhood, and legs. Screaming like a mad man he laughed, "I'm back! Yeah! I'm finally back to my normal self again! Yeah! I'm not a dog anymore! Take that, Naraku, hah!" At his last proclaim, he then held his fist up high in the air, a little cocky.

Suddenly blinking from another miraculous discovery, he finished with, "_And I can see in color! Damn_ this is hot!"

Kagome then started to blink, and her breathing slowly returned to a more normal rate. Opening her mouth to speak, she managed to babble a little, since she couldn't get her words out right and didn't even know what to say to _this. _Still, she got one finger up and pointed to the man in front of her, shaking.

The stranger noticed her movement then and, after taking down his own hand, he blinked. Still a little confused at the situation and at the woman directing her attention to him, he implied, _"What?"_

Kagome started to babble again, this time actually starting to form words. "You…you…y-you're uh…uh…a…"

The man was now getting frustrated at her. He had no time for nonsense rambling! "What is it, wench! Spill it out already!"

"Y-you…You're a…a…"

"Master Inuyasha! You back! You back!" cut in Myoga, saying it between sobs of joy. Never was he so glad to see him!

"Master, you're finally back to normal!" The flea jumped towards the hanyou and hopped onto his nose, and continued crying, hugging him. "Oh how I've missed you so!" After rubbing his face on his master's nose, he began to suck his blood. At this Inuyasha slapped his nose and took the little flattened guy in his hand.

"Myoga, what are _you _doing here?" Still too overjoyed at what had just occurred, the flea remained sobbing in his hand, whipping tears off his face. Inuyasha looked on repulsed. "What a baby."

"Y-you…you…"

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome who was still trying to digest everything that was happening, her finger still pointing out at him.

"What, are you going to stay like that all day?" he asked.

Kagome then drifted her sight from his face to his lower body and blushed again, hoping that he could at least notice that he was still nude in front of her and cover himself up; then answer a million questions that were burning in her mind.

"Huh?" Inuyasha followed her gaze and saw what it was she was pointing her finger to. Blushing horribly, he realized that he had been naked all along and quickly covered himself with his hands. Hopefully Myoga had fallen from his grasp and fallen to the water not moments before.

Inuyasha then made a weird, embarrassed and squeaky noise and hid half his body in the water, his chest still out and facing Kagome, who had already let her hand down and now held it near her cheek, still blushing like mad.

After both stared and blinked at each other in a very awkward silence, Kagome finally got it in herself to take a deep breath and scream.

Inuyasha joined her.

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A few moments before that when Rin came to, she found herself still on the couch, legs spread apart where Sesshy lay in between. Realizing that she had survived what seemed like one of nature's wild wonders, she turned her head towards all areas around the room, trying to make sense of everything and see if she had gone out of it okay.

Rin was surprised to see that the kitchen and living room were unharmed now, though she knew they were in terrible conditions not a few moments ago. Now touching her arms, hands, face, head, and buttocks for any cuts, bruises or abnormalities, she sighed in relief to see that she was alright and still whole.

In her relief she plumped back down on the sofa and laid her back upright, her head drawn back as she closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Clearly this had been a miracle.

"_Why did you stop brushing?"_

Rin's eyes jolted open. Where had that sexy, deep, baritone voice come from? If it was a guy, surely she would have had seen him when she was scanning the room? Now remembering that she had been in the room with Fluffy all this time and had forgotten about him, she instantly sat upright, her arms on her sides, and looked down at where she had last seen her dog.

She was taken aback when the first thing that she saw was what looked like some brother of cousin IT from the Adams Family, but with long, silver hair instead.

She freaked out. Was that supposed to be her dog! What had happened to it! Its fur was longer—almost like hair! And something about him made Rin fear that her dog was seriously hurt, for life. Had he been hurt from all the commotion? She couldn't bare anything happing to her Fluffy!

"Why did you stop brushing me?" the voice came again, this time followed by the creature in front of her moving it's human-like head feature with a slow grace, facing the left side of his face to her. A golden orb with a black slit in the middle stared deeply into Rin's own eyes from the corner of his, while two streaks of soft-colored pink showed on its flesh, coming out from a pointed flesh that perked away from its head.

Rin immediately brought her legs up to her chest and held them still wrapped around her arms, as she scooted even farther into the couch if possible.

Millions of things ran through her mind now, like _what the hell was that thing in front of her_, how did it get there, how could _she_ get out of there and if the thing by any chance ate humans. (ss pie: uh…heh heh heh… sweatdrop)

She started to tremble slightly, which made the thing in front of her blink. "What is it?" it asked her, again with its voice that sent chills up her spine. Rin gulped. It talked! It had actually talked! In fact, that beautiful voice she had heard had come from it! Somehow, between one unexplainable situation to the next, her mind told her that she was attracted to that voice, and that she found it to be quite sexy, even if her life could be on the line here. But the thing looked too beautiful to have such a cold voice to it. At the same time she was a little frightened at the still mysterious creature in front of her, not knowing what it wanted and if she was going to make it out alive, just barely surviving from the previous shake.

The 'thing' hadn't left its glare off her and, noticing her tense even more it inquired, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rin made a fearful noise, followed by a desperate try to escape. She turned 360 degrees on the couch, then another 180 and tried to jump over the couch but failed and took it along with her, making her fall down on the floor and bringing the couch to fall backwards, legs facing the monster.

In a matter of milliseconds Rin struggled to sit up and hid behind the sofa, thinking of using it as a shield while most of the cushions could be used for ammo if needed. She hoped this thing in front of her was friendly.

After a few seconds of silence, she decided to see what had happened to the beast since it still hadn't attacked her. Bringing both hands slowly to the rim of the couch's sitting area, she lifted her head over the couch and hoped that the thing had already gone off to wince it came.

But there it was, still in the same position she had found it and left it in, looking at her. She quickly ducked her head, afraid that it would then take this time to kill her with an eye beam, but since nothing happened again she peeked over the couch once more.

This time it's head had turned completely to face hers, an eyebrow lifted upward as if questioning what it was she was doing. That's when Rin noticed that it had_ two_ pairs of streaks that led to two pointy things on the sides of his head, almost like Elvin ears, while the rest of it looked human, except for the color of the eyes and what seemed to be like eye shadow over them, a small, light blue, crescent moon in the middle of its forehead. The rest of it must have been covered by what Rin could describe as its hair, which cascaded down to the floor like a shining waterfall.

The young woman knew not if this was a creature of earth; all she knew was that it was beautiful. And for some reason, oddly enough, it reminded her of fluffy, once she connected the moon, the stripes, and the silver hair to her own dog.

Rin jumped to her feet. "Oh no! Fluffy! Where is he? Where are you, fluffy! Fluffy, where are you!" she looked around the room again for him but couldn't find him anywhere. Now she was scared. Could that thing have had eaten her Fluffy!

"_Please _stop calling me that."

Rin almost strained her neck as she turned to face the stranger one more time. She had forgotten that she had left herself in a vulnerable position. But even amongst all the previous questions she still dangled in her head, a new confused one appeared.

"Don't call me 'Fluffy'. Its pathetic." the thing said, its emotionless eyes burning a hole into her chocolate ones.

Rin gasped. Did he just refer to himself as being her dog?

"W-what d-did you say?" she asked, a little braver now, for some reason.

"I _said _do not call me that anymore. I am_ Lord_ Sesshomaru and no one shall address to me otherwise. I will not have it."

Rin's face went pale and her knees weakened, for if there weren't evidence of an intergalactic species before, she just knew that this would make up for it. Not knowing if to nod at him showing that she understood him or to shake her head trying to show that she was sorry for pissing the stranger off, she did both.

The creature blinked at her and scrunched its eyes, making Rin's hair crawl, thinking that she had done something wrong and that now she would pay for it with her life. The beast then asked her in a more curious tone, "_You _understood_ me_?"

Rin immediately nodded yes, her headed seeming more like a bobbing toy than anything, while her eyes screamed for help and mercy at the same time.

Sesshomaru smelled her emotions and still wasn't too clear about what was happening, up until he heard Inuyasha's joyous yelps coming from the bathroom. He had been too accustomed to his prior canine, four-foot self that he failed to realize that his youkai senses had come back, and that he was no longer a dog, but a language-speaking youkai. Noticing that his brother had transformed back into a despicable hanyou, Sesshomaru widened his eyes in surprise—a feat that had only happened every year or so before—and stared down at what used to be his front paws.

Still on the floor and forgetting he had strong, hind legs now for standing, the once again youkai lord marveled at his claws, fingers and arms, letting his sight linger at the stripes on his wrists, which had been gone since he was in his dog form. Rin watched him the whole time and realized he looked almost human, from what she could see because he was facing her sideways, knees on the floor.

Sesshomaru turned his face away from Rin and started feeling his features, glad to have his un-furry and pointed ears back as well as his dry nose for once and smiling at himself, knowing that no one would see him do so.

The lord then stood up gracefully, as he always did, and Rin watched in amazement as what she was still trying to figure out was really her dog or not stood taller and prouder than her, its whole body still a mystery to her since its hair covered most of it. What she could make out was a pair of arms hanging on each side of its upper body, which she traced down until she saw its mysterious stripes and nail-like claws, which made her doubt that his hands were used for anything but tearing things apart. The other thing she could make out were two long, well-toned legs that came out from under the tips of the hair, which was long enough to cover his behind. Damn.

In a second Rin gasped. The voice, the face, the body—it was a man!

Well, sort of.

It looked beautiful enough to be female because of its soft skin and facial features, not to mention perfect hair, but the rest of its body was more muscular than a woman's could ever be and its voice was that of a male's. Rin decided that aliens were really genderless, or that this thing here was a result of human experimentation. Well, whatever it was, she liked what she saw, and hoped it stuck around for some time.

As Sesshomaru stood up, Rin blushed madly from check to cheek and covered her face as if to block her sight from him, her instinct telling her that he was as bare as the day that he came into the world.

Still not knowing what her thoughts of him meant, she then caught the thought that if she stayed that way he could do something to her while her eyes were closed. Opening them without a second thought and putting her arms down, she witnessed the stranger who called himself to be_ her_ Sesshomaru glare at her with his wondrous eyes, the same eyes that always made Rin get lost in them. That's when she just knew that, through some type of magic, it had to be her dog, reborn as a human male. Ca-ching! Jackpot!

The two stared at each other for some time, Rin not wanting to make sure if what she was experiencing was a dream that she didn't want to wake up from or not, and Sesshomaru, not knowing what to say or do to the human that took care of him when he couldn't of had, and in other words hurt his dignity and pride by doing just that.

No. He couldn't kill her. Not even if he had always hated humans and his hatred for them came back to him like a storm in that very moment. Something about her made him regret all the horrible things he used to do to those humans 500 years ago, and then he chided himself for thinking something like that. She was just like the rest of them.

Fighting with his own demons inside his head, Sesshomaru's wild thoughts told him to kill off every other human on the face of the planet for what he had had to go through as a mutt; but all except for her. No, not Rin. Not _his _Rin. He couldn't even dare lay a finger on her, for some weird, human emotion he was experiencing. _Damn it. I've been stuck with them too long, _he said to himself.

Instead, he felt like protecting her just as she cared and took care for him. And her eyes screamed for protection, even now, standing in his presence. Was she actually afraid of him? She had never been afraid of him before. Never.

_Feel? I am feeling?_ Sesshomaru looked down from her gaze to try and brush off all the different signals he was getting that he had never had before and it hit him then that he was still without something to cover him up with. He knew that putting on his royal attire would make him feel fearless and powerful again, so he followed his nose to where ever their smell led him to. He disappeared into the hallway just as Inuyasha and Kagome's screams kicked in.

The last thing Rin could register other than that departing godly body of his was the fact that the air smelled like something was burning, and that smoke was rising from the kitchen.

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Oh. My. God!

Alright! Was this spicy enough for ya! I had this original idea for the awakening of the guys, but after writing the story and getting to this part I thought, _maybe them being all _naky's_ just not like my story's atmosphere. _But then I thought, _awe, screw it! _I didn't want to have to come up with something else. It would be too much work. Besides, I think you guys enjoyed it…hopefully…(squeal!)...and find it in your hearts to forgive me for my vulgar mind! Muahaha!

And review; especially if you haven't yet for the chapters! I know that after seeing the two guys in their birthday suits that's the second thing that'll make my mouth water!


	9. Of Men and Their Demons, Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the sons of Inu no Taisho.

I have just one thing to say, though—damn those blasted writer's block! Curse you all! _Curse_ you!

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**Chapter 8: Of Men and Their Demons, Part One**

Rin took another sip from her coke can from her place in the kitchen and tried to catch another glimpse of her fully-clothed Sesshomaru from the corner of her eye, who was crossed-armed and resting his back against the living room wall. Luckily, he didn't catch her peeking at him this time and remained looking out the window, his head tilted away from everyone's view.

Kagome poked her head out of the fridge and snapped open her second coke. "Why is it we never have any alcohol around when we need it, Rin?" she asked sarcastically.

Rin turned to face her. "Because we never needed it before, Kags." She watched as her friend took a long heavy gulp from the can, her head tilted upward.

The two girls had been in the kitchen trying to digest all the information they had been told ever since they had found out the truth about their dogs—or whatever it was they were thanks to Myoga, who mentally made them itch. They still couldn't believe that the two males in their living room were actually two living, breathing, known-to-be-extinct but really-only-been-heard-in-legends-before youkais from a long-forgotten era, asking for their help. Yes, _their_ help. Why not the police, the F.B.I. or the Men in Black? It just had to be _them_ two. As if college and being single wasn't enough to deal with.

The demons had no where to go and sure as hell couldn't do anything about it until they found a way of going back to whence they came—the past. Not to mention they couldn't even set a foot outside the apartment walls since Kagome's hold of the Shikon Jewel inside her kept up a barrier around them by mistake, and she had no clue how to get rid of it. Yes; until then, they were as stray as any other dog that roamed the streets. And having around a creepy, talking flea that lay hidden in Inuyasha's hair didn't make things any more comfortable or pleasing for anyone—not even the hanyou.

After Kagome whipped her mouth and, hoping that when she opened her eyes again this would all be just one big dream, she looked into her friend's eyes that had on that significant wet, puppy-dog eyes she always wore when she wanted something desperately.

Kagome stepped back. "_Oh no!_ Don't look at me like that! We can't keep 'em, Rin! I mean, they're guys…_or, whatever_…. and…not even dogs anymore!" She opened her eyes wide in noticing that she must have said more than she should have and instantly looked over to Inuyasha who was currently sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and had been staring at the two ever since they had left the confines of Kagome's room. "Uh—n-no offense? Y-you know what I mean, right?" she plead him.

"None takin'," he barely made out in a pout and monotone voice, still fixing his golden orbs on the two females.

Kagome sighed in relief. If the two demons had really wanted to kill the girls in the first place, they would have done it more than six times already with her big mouth. They had said they weren't going to harm any of them, but it was kind of hard to chew, especially having someone like Sesshomaru around. And there was also the fact that Inuyasha's eyes kept magically gravitating towards Kagome's chest, since her shirt was still wet and clingy from the dog bath that had taken place just a few hours before. Talk about uncomfortable.

"But Kagome! Look at them! Thy need our help!" Rin whined. At this they heard Sesshomaru grunt, almost as if laughing at that statement.

"Rin, they're not just pets you can take care of, you know." She mentally slapped herself in the cheek and looked over to Inuyasha, who just waved a claw this time. Good. She was forgiven for that smart ass but stupid comment too.

Rin shook her head like a little girl and bit her bottom lip. "Please, Kags! Pretty please!"

Kagome didn't know what to do. She lifted her coke at eye level and inspected it curiously, trying to clear her mind a little while buying time to think up of something. _Hmm…One hundred and ninety calories…Calories from fat: sixty…Sugar…one hundred percent…_

She shrugged, gulped down another mouthful of coke, and made a recollection of that day's events, after the big storm.

_After taking a whole minute to scream frantically at Inuyasha's human figure Kagome had managed to run out of the bathroom to get away from him, barely missing Sesshomaru as he passed by the hall to put on his attire that still lay in Kagome's room._

_The only explanation she could make out for the hanyou's sudden appearance was witchcraft, which scared her to death. After all, it wasn't every day that a man appeared out of thin air where a dog had been, right after a huge storm._

_Making her way to the living room she had flung herself onto Rin as soon as she spotted her friend. Rin caught her, surprised, and asked what was wrong. Hugging her back tightly, she had added, "And why are you so wet!"_

_Kagome huffed and gasped for air. "Th-there's a monster in the bathroom, Rin!" She pointed a nervous finger towards the hallway._

_Rin thought she had meant Sesshomaru and shook her head. "No! Wait, Kagome! It's not a monster!" She thought for a moment and corrected herself, "Well, I'm still not sure what it is, exactly, but whatever it is, I think it's friendly."_

_Kagome backed up from her grasp. "Are you crazy! What type of idiot do you take me for! Look, first Inuyasha was there, and now there's a man in his place! A naked man, Rin!" she emphasized her words by adding frantic arm movements to them._

_"Yeah… I know," Rin blushed. But then she got a bit confused. "Inuyasha? What does he have to do with anything?"_

_Just then said hanyou came out still dripping wet from the hallway, holding onto a white towel he had been able to wrap around his waist with his right claw. "Stop screaming! My ears hurt just as much as my back does! Jeez, wench!"_

_The girls turned around and once Kagome noticed who it was she hid behind Rin for cover. She squealed and pointed her finger at him. "That's him, Rin! That's the monster I was talking to you about!"_

_Inuyasha blinked, taken aback. "I'm not a monster, you wench! I'm a demon!" He lifted his left hand in a fist and showed his canine teeth. The girls jumped back a little, startled. "It's not like you've never seen one before! Kami, are you two hopeless!" _

_Myoga, who at the time was still unknown to the girls, had hopped onto his master's shoulder all the way from the bathroom and spoke up as Inuyasha looked down at him. "Lord Inuyasha. I don't think this is a good time to talk about demons and such."_

_"D-demons?" asked Rin._

_"I'm telling you, Rin! We're going to die!"_

_"Stop being so stupid, wench, or I'll just have to take you up on your offer!" he screamed back._

_"Somebody please help us! Anybody? Help!" Kagome's bear grip got tighter around Rin's waist._

_"Ow. Kagome, that hurts!" she flinched._

_"Look, take anything it is you want! Just let us live!"_

_"Ah! Kagome!"_

_Myoga jumped into Inuyasha's ear. "Master we need these women to help us so try not to scare them, alright?"_

_Inuyasha flipped his head as to face Myoga if he were as tall as him, making the flea fall out of his head from the force and onto his shoulder again. "What do you mean?"_

_As Myoga started fidgeting for an answer Rin whispered to Kagome, "Who do you think he's talking to?" Neither had noticed the miniature demon bug yet._

_"Myoga! What's going on! And don't even try to lie to me!" Inuyasha's voice made the girls face their attention towards the hanyou again. _

_Myoga was sweating. Boy was he in sweet tomally now! Inuyasha's memories and recollection of the past still hadn't gone back to him clearly. The flea inhaled a gulp of air before coming up with, "Well, uh…that's a long story, I'm afraid."_

_"Get away from me, you…you thing!"_

_"Ow! Hey, Kagome, your hurting me!" Rin said between breathes, caught in her friend's death grip._

_"Get away from us, now! I'm warning you!"_

_Inuyasha kept blinking at Kagome confused who was now moving uncontrollably while Myoga fought between telling them to calm down, telling them the whole truth in one breath, or even speaking up, at all. Inuyasha said, "Look. Stop acting like I'm going to kill you, 'cause I'm not, alright. And stop screaming! You're loud enough as it is." Of course to Kagome his voice was like what a fish heard whenever someone tapped the glass of their fishbowl: annoying, raspy, loud, and most important, alien._

Kagome dug into the refrigerator and filled a glass with milk, seeing that she had depleted everything else drinkable in the house. She drank it all in one full swoop and shook her head to fight the cold sting. She finished by licking off the milk mustache on her lips. Yup. This was defiantly one of those days you would never forget about. Not by a long shot. Whenever things couldn't seem to get worse, they did.

_Still using Rin as a shield and gripping onto her to death, Inuyasha tried to negotiate strategically with the two to stop all that nonsense. He stretched out his left claw at them, still holding on to his towel with the right. Showing a fang or two he ordered, "Quit it, or I'll _really_ have to kill you!"_

_"Stay back!" Kagome thought he was about to attack them. "Rin, he'll kill us both!" She gripped her friend once again, which made her grunt._

_Inuyasha started walking towards them. "Hey! Stop that! If you keep doing that you'll—"_

_Kagome had had enough and screamed once more, "Somebody help us!" before her chest was in pain again, and in mere seconds later had collapsed to the floor, bringing Rin down with her. _

Kagome exhaled deeply and clutched her left breast. Surely every normal human being had a heart there, somewhere, but here she had to be the only one with a priceless accessory magically grown in as well. The flea had told the girls that she had apparently activated the Jewel by mistake as a defensive maneavor whenever Inuyasha stepped closer to her, fearing for her own safety. And since she didn't know she even had a powerful mechanism inside her, let alone be able to use the strong energy it was emitting, no one was able to prevent what happened next. The Jewel's pinkish light engulfed both Kagome and Rin and the next thing Inuyasha or Myoga knew before they could uncover their eyes from the blinding light was that the two humans had fallen unconscious on the floor. But if it were in other hands at the time, it could have obliterated the hanyou in an instant.

The next few memories of that day were still a blur to her, but what Kagome could remember after fainting was moaning and moving around on her bed, still half way asleep. She remembered hearing strange voices all around her, but only now could she distinguish each voice independently from one another.

"_Kami she's starting to wake up. _Finally!"

"_Lord Inuyasha, remember what I said earlier…"_

"_Feh. Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Don't scare her'. Yeah, like that's going to be easy. She acts like she's never even seen a real demon before."_

"Half _demon, you half breed."_

"_Grr…Sesshomaru, if you have some sort of problem with me I suggest you say it to my face, you idiot!"_

"_Now, now, mi'lords. P-please, c-calm down."_

"_What! If he's lookin' for a fight then I'll give him one!"_

"_No! Lord Inuyasha! You can't—"_

"_Are you saying I can't take him on!"_

"_Feh."_

"_What? You think this is funny, Sesshomaru!"_

"_Please! Master Inuyasha!"_

"_That's it! I'm gonna _kill_ 'em!"_

"_No! Master! Put that--"_

"_Grr! Let me go, Myoga! Let me go!"_

"_P-put down your sword, Inuyasha!"_

"_Hm. If even a flea is strong enough to hold you back, half breed, then I doubt you'll survive one second in a fight with me."_

"_What! You sayin' you want a fight, Sesshomaru! I'll_ give_ you one!"_

"_N-nohoho! Please! Stop this at once! We cannot ruin our only chance with the girls! Please! Im begging you! They're needed to--"_

"_Mmm…mm?"_

_The guys immediately stopped their bickering once Kagome's eyeballs started rolling under her eyelids and an attempt was made at moving her limbs, but she couldn't. "Mmm? What?"she kept moaning. The three looked on and calmed down a bit, hoping she wouldn't scream at what she would come to notice._

_Kagome slowly opened her eyes and after looking at the ceiling for a moment she struggled to move her arms and legs more to stretch out but couldn't. Worried and feeling a little numb, she began yanking her arms from something she couldn't recognize, until a horrible feeling came to her mind._

_She quickly looked over to where her left hand should be, and there, encircling her wrist, was a piece of rope, the other end tied to the bed. Gasping frantically, she yanked harder but couldn't get herself lose. Her feet were also tied up to the bed. Shifting her sight towards her right, she saw that her other hand was tied to someone else's. She screamed, years of watching "Unsolved Mysteries" episodes flashing in her head. Pulling her hand toward her, she came to realize where the other arm led to…Rin._

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Due to some technical reasons I kinda decided to leave this chap here (mostly because I hoped this didn't come out too...uh…_crappy_). And on further technical reasons, the more reviews I receive in a short amount of time, the faster the next chap will come up. No lie!

p.s. if you don't mind reading the next chap in mostly slanted letters, than even better! Tell me, though. (it's all retrospection, so yeah, it'll probably be there, anyways)

Read & Review.


	10. Of Men and Their Demons, Part 2

Disclaimer: Even though I've done this almost thirty times by now I _still_ don't know what the word 'disclaimer' even means, but I'll say it anyway..._I don't own Inuyasha._

Ss pie: Okay…so _bribing_ doesn't work to get more reviews...Back to the drawing board…

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**Chapter 9:** **Of Men and Their Demons, Part Two**

Kagome felt her wrist, where the ropes had been tied. Remarkably they hadn't left any marks or scars. That was one reason she decided to trust these demons. But it took her a while to do so. She recalled how she first found Rin unconscious beside her, both tide onto the bed with no explanation whatsoever of why.

_Bolting upright she looked over at her friend, who was still in a sleepy state. "Rin? Rin! Oh my God! What's happened to you! Rin! Speak to me!" she began rubbing her but received no answer. Suddenly she caught movement from the corner of her eye and her heart skipped a beat. No; make that two beats._

_Turning to the sight in front of her her breath now caught in her throat and her heart beat faster than she could count. In front of her was that same monster she had seen before, only this time, it was in…her red haori? Not only that, but its arms were crossed and tucked under his sleeves and his face was rather…menacing. Farther away and standing in the left corner of the room was yet another stranger, arms crossed and tucked into the sleeves of the other white and red haori, with armor and all, who Kagome swore would be the first one's accomplice in murder. The two seemed to look alike, but the second stranger's eyes were icier and her mind barely boggled the question of his gender._

_Kagome did a double take. "No! There's two of you!" She both asked and stated her question, hoping she was wrong._

_Just then the first one blinked and Kagome looked into his eyes, ready for anything. "Well, are you awake now?" it asked. Kagome gulped so hard even Myoga heard her, and she tried moving farther up the bed to get away from them. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and looked down at Myoga who was on the bed, frustrated. "See? I told you it would be impossible."_

_Myoga looked back at him. "Please, Inuyasha. Just give her some time." Kagome began searching the trace of that last voice and she couldn't believe her eyes once she found the flea. _

"_Ah! A bug! Ew, get it off, get it off, get it off!" she kicked and paddled her feet. Rin started to come to at that._

_Inuyasha would've laughed at that comment but was tired enough as it was to get the information he needed to bother. "Hey, she's awake now. Tell us what's going on, you flea." Myoga gulped. This was the day he had been both hoping for and dreading. He was now the center of attention, and if he screwed this up, he'd never get another chance at it again._

"_Mmm? Kagome? Is that you?" Rin began lifting herself up from the bed and tried rubbing her eyes open, but forgot about it once she couldn't even move her arms. "W-what? What's going on?" Her voice grew and she questioned Kagome to her being tied to her bed. "Kagome! What's going on?"_

_Kagome didn't have the first clue to what to say, so she flicked her head toward the guy's direction, signaling her to look. Rin followed her jester's indication and gasped. _

"_Oh. Uh…Um…_Yeah…"_ she too was at a loss for words. Was she supposed to be a part of some awful foursome she didn't know about?_

_Myoga cleared his throat. "Ladies, may I have your attention?" _

_The two girls looked down at the bug, to which Rin pointed out, "Hey. Isn't that a bug on your bed, Kagome? " Myoga sweat dropped again and Inuyasha couldn't help but smirk a little this time. Rin tried looking closer at him. "Is that _clothes _he's wearing?"_

"Begin explaining yourself, flea."_ Sesshomaru's patience was starting to wear out, and with or without it was never a god thing. Myoga gulped._

"_Y-yes, of course…"_

_Rin blinked at him, apparently looking deep under his attire to try and recognize that familiar face. "Hey. Are you…Fluffy? You were the one who said he was Fluffy, weren't you?" _

_At this Myoga slapped himself, four times per each hand, and Inuyasha seemed surprised by her statement, for he'd never heard something like it before. And since it was addressed to his brother, it was quite...well…funny. He covered his mouth to try and hide his snickering._

_Sesshomaru immediately corrected her, a cold glare forming in his eyes. "I told you I am _Lord _Sesshomaru, ruler of the western lands, and no one will treat me otherwise." He finished by furrowing his eyebrows._

_Rin tried accessing the information, but still wanted to know, "but you're my dog, right? You know, 'Sesshy'?" Again Myoga and Inuyasha re-did their former actions and Sesshomaru almost growled. Rin obviously wasn't getting the hint that she might as well lay herself on a nail-driven platter in front of him if she was going to speak to him like that._

_Myoga cut in, trying to prevent a for-seeing female-slaughter. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" He shook his tiny hands. "Before you say anything else, I suggest you hear me out."_

_Kagome screamed again that there was a bug—and not just any bug—a talking bug on her bed right next to her feet and started kicking again. She grabbed Rin around the waist and began screaming for help._

_Inuyasha covered his ears. "Man! How many times do you have to keep doing that!" He tried speaking to Myoga over their cries. "See? I told you we should 'of muffled their mouths as well, but you didn't listen now, did ya!"_

"Stop it."

_At Sesshomaru's stern and deadly voice Kagome stopped screaming, and by looking towards him she noticed then that he had two swords with him, and currently had his right claw on a red-hilted one. His eyes were narrowed. Myoga instantly started hopping up and down on his place on the bed._

"_No! Please, Master Sesshomaru! I beg of you! Don't hurt her!" He received the youkai's glare and this time, added Lord to his pleads._

_Inuyasha spoke up to the girls sternly. "Listen. I know we have swords and yes, you're tied to the thing you humans apparently sleep in. But the truth is that your safe," he paused and looked over to Sesshomaru from the corner of his eye, "…uh…_safer_ than you think with us. I know this may sound stupid and idiotic, but trust me, _we mean you no harm."

_What came next no one had expected. Kagome busted out laughing and Rin soon got into it as well, and both laughed hysterically for longer than ten seconds. They cried like clowns and would have hugged each other if it weren't for the fact that their arms were still tied up. Inuyasha felt humiliated somewhat and disturbed, Sesshomaru maintained his pist-off stature, and Myoga sweat dropped, thinking this went better than he thought it would._

_Upon fading away her laughter, Kagome wiped a tear that had formed and asked, "Yeah, yeah, of _course. Where are the cameras_, huh? Are they in your wigs, or are they on the walls?" she and Rin chuckled a bit more until the girls realized they weren't kidding. Besides male's faces expressing confusion, they knew they weren't joking anymore; this was for real._

"_Rin…I think we're going to die…" Kagome whispered at her friend. "It was nice knowing you. You were like a sister to me."_

"_And you were like the sister I never had," whimpered Rin. The two started sobbing and brought their shoulders together, holding their closest hands firmly. "I love you, Kagome! I'll miss you!"_

"_We're really going to die, Rin!"_

_Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Keh. You're not going to die, you wench. At least not today." _

_The girls stopped crying. "So we're not going to be dissected by aliens?"_

"_Or get raped?" Rin hoped Kagome hadn't put that image into her head._

"_Huh?" Inuyasha knew nothing about what they had just said. "What? No, no." He shook his head. "If you'd listen for once, we'd get to our point, so stop your whining and girly cries so we can get this over with, alright?"_

_The girls gulped but nodded nonetheless. If they were going to be killed, they could at least hear their assassin's last words, right? Besides, if anybody was going to help them, they would have come by now._

"_Okay. I'm going to untie you now, alright? But only if you promise to stop screaming, you got that?" The girls nodded reluctantly and shifted uncomfortably once Inuyasha came close to Kagome first, a clawed finger out. She complained, but he tried comforting her. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you, alright? See?" He slowly moved his claw to where her left wrist was tied to the bed and continued, "I'm only going to do _this,"_ he slowed his actions to allow Kagome to see that he was going to cut the rope with his nail and at the last second brushed upward quickly in order to cut the rope clean. It snapped and Kagome gasped, but once she studied her wrist and saw that it was alright, she worried less when Inuyasha was beginning to cut away her left foot rope._

"_See? No harm done." Inuyasha continued all the way to Rin, and when the friend's tied hands were finally free, they rubbed their wrists and looked at each other, wondering what to think or expect next._

_Myoga cleared his throat again to grab their attention. "My ladies, before we go into this, I'd like to correct that I am in deed a _flea demon,_ not just some ordinary '_bug'._ In fact, you may call me Myoga." He bowed and the girls kept blinking at him, still trying not to scream._

_Rin raised a hand to Kagome's ear to offer some privacy and whispered, "So, you thinking what I'm thinking?"_

_She nodded. "Yeah, that this is all just a dream and that I'm dying to wake up?"_

_Rin agreed. "Yup."_

"_Ahem, can you_ please _stop interrupting so Myoga can get on with it!" Inuyasha broke in. The girls shrugged and said okay, seeing that somehow they'd wake up soon if this was all, indeed, a horrific nightmare._

_Myoga coughed a little. "Well, now that I've got your attention I must introduce my master's two sons, Master Inuyasha and Lord Sesshomaru." He lifted his limbs to point at them. Seeing the girl's faces and that they began whispering again, he knew what they were thinking. "Yes, I know. They have the same names as your two dogs." Receiving another shocked look from them, he continued, "Please, sit down and I'll assure you that all your questions will soon be answered."_

_Kagome and Rin let go of each other and rested their backs on the wall, as Inuyasha joined his bother in crossed arms._

_Myoga took a deep breath. "I know this is going to all sound unbelievable, impossible and unreal, but you should keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you is no story, my maidens. So please, sit back, relax, and listen carefully to all I have to say…"_

_Sesshomaru harrumphed and everyone looked over to him. He just gave them the cold stare and their eyes quickly turned to Myoga again._

"_Well, let's see…where to begin?" Myoga paced back and forth upon the bed, with a hand on his chin, as if in deep thought. The girls' heads moved from side to side as their sight followed his steps. Finally, Inuyasha growled and lifted a clenched fist._

"_Just get on with it, you old flea!" Myoga jumped up._

"_Alright, alright. You don't have to be so feisty about it!"_

"_Commence or I'll make sure you don't speak at all." Myoga yelped at the sound of Sesshomaru's voice and knew he'd die for sure once he saw his right claw lifting up, emanating poison._

"_Uh, uh…" Now the flea was too scared to think straight._

"_Oh, come on!" Inuyasha rolled his eyes and walked up to the foot of the bed still crossed-armed and landed a clawed foot atop the rim of the mattress. He directed his speech to the girls. "Look, we're _demons,_ alright? De-_mons._ And somehow we've been brought to this place and we don't know how or why, you got that! Now tell us just how you got hold of the Sacred Jewel and where Naraku's hiding now!" His voice traveled from a well-leveled tone to a frantic, demanding one. The girls hugged each other, scared._

_Myoga cut in. "No master! That's not how it goes!" Inuyasha blinked, confused._

"_Then how would you say it, you old fart!"_

_Myoga sighed. "Yes, it does have to do with all that you said, but it's a little more _complicated_ than that…"_

_Before Inuyasha could inquire why, Sesshomaru asked, now with his claw down, "What are you talking about, demon?"_

_By now Kagome and Rin were staring back and forth at the arguing threesome, thinking that even_ they_ were confused as to what they were doing here. _

"_Well…uh…" Myoga fidgeted again and Inuyasha growled and in a flash took out his sword untransformed and slashed it at the flea. _

"_Quit rambling and tell us the truth, Myoga!" Myoga ducked in time and thought he almost wet himself there. _

"_D-don't do that, lord Inuyasha! You'll keep scaring the mikos!" By now any sign of fear the girls had had early on were now gone, mostly because any menace left in the room was directed toward the little bug in front of them, so they didn't need to worry any more about that._

_Inuyasha feh'd and before Sesshomaru could take out his Tokijin again, Myoga gave in, knowing this would be the worst day of his life and that only his tongue could save him now. "Aright! Alright! I-I haven't been completely_ honest_ with you! A-any of you!"_

_Sesshomaru gripped his Tokijin's hilt and Inuyasha screamed, "What!"_

"_I said--"_

"_I heard what you said, I just want to know what you meant by it, you worthless flea!"_

"_I-I…" Myoga knew this was it. It was now or never. He had to tell not only the women what they were up against, but what his masters didn't know as well, either. _

_He knew they'd kill him before he'd have time to finish, so Myoga hopped atop Kagome's shoulder to her dread and ignored her squirming for a bit, knowing that neither of the dog demons in front of him would dare kill the miko that held their lives in her hands—or in this case, chest. Kagome was a perfect shield._

"_Master Inuyasha, Lord Sesshomaru. I-I'm afraid I have some_ terrible_ news…"_

_Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and kept his claw on the Tokijin, and Inuyasha remained curious._

_Myoga sweat dropped and added the following silence as a dramatic opening. "We are not where you think we are, I'm afraid…That is…we are...uh…"_

_He looked up slowly to them and only dared to look Inuyasha in the eyes before looking back down at the bed to say, "We are no longer in feudal times, my lords. We are...actually…_five hundred years_ into the future…" _

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_Read and Review!_


	11. Of Men and Their Demons, Part 3

_Disclaimer, on everything 'Inuyasha' that I, a fan girl, do not own, sadly. (Tear)_

_Last time: "Master Inuyasha, Lord Sesshomaru. I-I'm afraid I have some_ terrible_ news…" Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and kept his claw on the Tokijin, and Inuyasha remained curious. Myoga sweat dropped and added the following silence as a dramatic opening. "We are not where you think we are, I'm afraid…That is…we are...uh…"_

_He looked up slowly to them and only dared to look Inuyasha in the eyes before looking back down at the bed to say, "We are no longer in feudal times, my lords. We are...actually…_five hundred years_ into the future…" _

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**Chapter 10: Of Men and Their Demons, Part Three**

Atop the highest shelf in the kitchen, there stood a very frightened and shivering demon flea, afraid to even show his face anymore. He knew he had tried the best he could to help his Lord's two sons out, but somehow managed to fail them at the same time. Only he could have messed up _that_ big, sending his lords five hundred years into the unknown future. Boy, did he _deserve _to die at their claws. Thankfully their canine noses were always incapable of sniffing out his whereabouts, and for that he would sing fifty saint kamis' each night for a whole month. A small tear on his lower left sleeve was the only sign left of his fierce confrontation with his lords and the truth.

He remembered how he had managed to cover a whole half millennia of information in just under sixty seconds, trying to give a good reason for his lack of inept servitude.

It just wasn't his fault.

But he couldn't say that, now, could he? Instead, he crammed information upon information after dropping the five hundred-year bomb shell on them, purposely leaving them no time to respond with a swing of the sword. The fight with Naraku; the reason for his master's bodies feeling a sting (while being transformed into mutts); Kikyo's braveness for allowing them to maintain life instead of killing them off as Naraku had wished and to his disgrace; the last words the great miko had said to him, the _very_ heroic flea, before perishing herself; the notes, the instructions, the power she left in the flea's hands in order to bring her most dear lover back to life and the hundreds of years it had taken to make all this possible.

Myoga knew he had sweat buckets full of sweat when saying all this, and to think he had just begun.

"_So you're saying we're stuck here now!" Inuyasha whined. Sesshomaru had long gone retrieved his claw from the Tokijin. That trick always did get him what he wanted from his minions._

"_I-I'm afraid so," Myoga barely replied, glad that he had made it through half the story without being killed or questioned yet. But what he feared the most was the fact that Sesshomaru hadn't said anything yet. Yikes._

"_Damn it. Damn it all!" Inuyasha started pacing back and forth in the room, finally facing Kagome who remarkably looked so much like Kikyo. He'd ask about that later._

"You," _he pointed out, as if disgusted by her presence._

_Huh! What! M-Me?" Kagome jumped up, frightened._

"_Yeah, you. Take us back, you wench."_

"_Uh…M-m-lord'…"_

"_What is it, flea!"_

_Myoga ducked, shivering. "W-well…you see…uh…" He inhaled another big gulp of air and stated the rest of his tale._

_The awakening from the deep slumber that Kikyo had left the three in-- in order to await the time when the Shikon Jewel emerged once more into the world so they were secured their well being and a true chance at returning back to normal; and Myoga, being the first to awaken out of the three. He described as plainly as he could their time as dogs, without the harsh, degrading and embarrassing details, just in case the lords decided to kill him then._

_The girls were astonished at the miraculous feats and story they were being told, and the brothers remained motionless and quiet until Myoga finished. For some reason neither could remember anything from their time as canines, but could still recall their time as demons. The flea had said that Kikyo herself had no idea what her magic could do to them once the incantation was made, and thankfully only their resent escapades were the only thing missing from their memory. Myoga was very much grateful for that, remembering all the things they had gone through and gotten into when in dog form and skipped a few 'minor' details when retelling their time as mutts. _

_The only thing he really let out was their being captured and taken to the pound on various occasions, but that was mainly it. He did, though, mention their obvious dissipating intelligence over time, but glad his masters hadn't killed him yet until he arrived at the part in the story where he had met with the girls and had done a few 'things' in order to perform this operation in bringing his masters back to their former selves again._

_The main point encircled the importance of the Jewel, it being the ticket to their 'freedom', and that Kagome was their only hope for using it who, to their dismay, didn't even know she had it in her, literally. _

_Trying to even up the mood if only a bit, Myoga closed his eyes as he had finished, "Because Kikyo couldn't prevent being controlled by Naraku somewhat, she made your transformation possible, because it had been an order. But I believe that it was your last words of love towards her, Inuyasha, that permitted some of her spirit to awaken and in doing so she did the only thing that she could do; she used the power of the Jewel to create a haven for the both of you until there was a way to bring you back to your normal selves."_

"_Oh… so that's what happened; you two were being transformed back again into your normal selves!" Rin had exclaimed, rather joyfully, speaking about the recent storm in their house._

_Kagome had whispered into her ear, "Define normal."_

_Rin looked at her friend. "But Kagome, don't you believe that this could all be true!"_

"_Come again, my dear, delusional friend?"_

"_It's just like in the fairy tales, Kags! But instead of kissing some frogs and getting our princes, we got _lords!_ Think of the possibilities! We're actually in the presence of royalty, here! At _our _house! In our _rooms_, Kags! And you can read between the lines, if you know what I mean…"_

_Kagome was astonished. Here they were at the mercy of two super-powered killing machines and all she could think about was getting hitched. And with that kind of mind, Kagome wondered why Rin had never had a boyfriend before._

"_They're royalty, alright, Rin. But of the _demonic _kind—meaning who cares! They'll eat us or torture us eventually!"_

"_What do you mean?" Rin asked innocently._

_Kagome sighed. Thank goodness she knew her handful of history, or they'd both be in deep bacon now. "Do you _know_ what demons eat, Rin?"_

_Rin thought for a bit, her finger placed on her lips. "Um… Steak?"_

_Kagome exhaled at her naive ness. Sure Sesshomaru had eaten steak as a dog whenever Rin made him that, but now that he wasn't one anymore…well…_

"_They eat--"_

"_Hey," Myoga interrupted, "we don't need to get into specifics here, ladies. But I assure you," he nodded, knowing all too well Kagome's knowledge of demons and how barbaric they could be, "my lords aren't like that at all."_

_Kagome wasn't even _half _convinced. "Right… So, what will they eat, then? Dog food?"_

"_Stop calling us dogs like we're some kind of animals, you wench!" Inuyasha growled._

"_You're only _half _demon, half breed, so I doubt you have a say in this," glared Sesshomaru._

"'_Half breed'?" Rin asked again._

"_Half human, half youkai," Myoga replied as fast as he could before getting into deeper waters._

"_Grr! I'm curious you'll be saying that when your cut in two!" Inuyasha wielded the Tetsusaiga and transformed it, making the girls pin themselves against the wall in horror._

_Sesshomaru wielded his own sword. "You won't have the time, once I'm done with you."_

_Myoga hopped in the middle of the two on the ground, trying to end anything before it even started. "Please! Not in the house! We'll all be destroyed!"_

_A Second later he'd wished he hadn't put himself in the Inu-youkai crossfire, for Sesshomaru sliced at him in anger and Myoga's miniscule life soon flashed before his eyes. "Incompetent fool!" would be the last words he'd hear coming from his unsatisfied older master, who he'd devoted his whole life to serve._

"Nooo!"_ a very sorry flea wailed, as he felt being disintegrated into nothing. _

_Inuyasha yelled, stupefied, "Idiot! Don't kill the _ass!"_ But it was too late. Myoga was no where to be seen._

"_Damn it all! See what you just did! He's dead now and we have no way of getting back thanks to you!"_

"_You're both insolent fools," Sesshomaru snickered._

"_Eep! You actually _killed_ the poor guy!" Rin both asked and screamed astonished. "Poor thing!" She received a cold glare from the corner of the lord's eye. Perhaps she was next?_

"_I'm…I'm…Alive!" Myoga started sobbing like mad, his face buried in his four hands._

_Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both looked down to see that the flea somehow had survived the swing and was now on the floor in between them, unscathed except for a tear on a sleeve. Before anyone could say anything, the flea figured, "It must be the power of the Jewel! The Jewel saved me from being obliterated into smithereens! Thank the kamis!"_

And that's how everyone figured out that they were stuck inside the Jewel's barrier, unable to leave the house, unable to kill anyone, and unable to be unstable as they'd usually been.

But that didn't mean they couldn't try, right?

_The next thing anyone knew, Sesshomaru's eyes had gone blood red, his bangs starting to float effortlessly. He'd had enough of all the nonsense and incompetence of everyone sharing the same room with him and was transforming. His jaw began to widen, and Rin and Kagome held each other now tighter than ever, shivering, while Inuyasha raised an arm to block himself from the immense waves of air that swam through the room, fighting with the sheets._

_But fate had a different plan in mind, and the inu youkai received a surprise jolt of lightning and purification stings all over his body, making him growl in agony and finally fall down on the floor, taken down from the blast._

_No one knew what to say to that, and they could only watch as Sesshomaru's eyes fluttered open, his body remaining motionless for three seconds until they saw him get up with a slight hint of baffle on his face that even the girls noticed. Then growling, he opened the room door and went out in a furious manner. Being the smart one out of the brothers he had found out in that short amount of time that he couldn't take his anger out on anybody physically, like he used to, unless he'd take the chance at dying. What a disgrace to his very soul, if he had one. Hadn't he been under the damn Jewel's spell, he'd have chewed off everyone that very moment and blasted a hole through the door to leave instead of turning the knob like he did. And though he was far from letting himself be under the mercy of a young, human girl and her trinket, he'd soon find the chance to do away with both of them, only once his life was not at stake._

_That was what really separated him from his hanyou brother. Sure he'd never let someone get away with dishonoring him, but he wasn't a fool. He'd just have to wait for the right time to take revenge, which seemed like an eternity, even for a demon._

_And it was at that same time that the household reasoned the cost of the Shikon's power; every time the Jewel was activated, Kagome was left breathing heavily and clasping her aching chest again, still weak to control it._

_It seemed the youkais would be going nowhere for a long, long time._

_Rin decided she take Kagome to the kitchen to give her some water to drink. As Kagome used Rin to sustain herself upright, she panted under pressure, and almost dropped to her knees when she noticed Sesshomaru had taken a spot in their living room, leaning on the wall, eyes glaring deadly at her as she passed by. Obviously he thought this was all her fault._

_Rin noticed him too but was too worried about Kagome to think about him for a while and both girls inwardly and unexpectedly appreciated Inuyasha coming in after them, seating himself on the couch. Even though the Jewel was apparently powerful enough to hold back his older sibling, he'd take no chances and serve as guard dog for the women, the idea of Kagome being his only chance of getting back home to Kikyo again never leaving his mind._

_Myoga had disappeared soon after that._

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Kagome had gone into a drinking frenzy, gulping down anything she could find in the kitchen if only to get drunk; not like she'd done it before, but she'd heard it was supposed to make your troubles seem like petty things, if only for a few hours. And now more than ever she wished she'd have a can or two of alcohol, for once.

Meanwhile Rin's mind never stopped recalling her time with Sesshomaru as her pet, and after some time, she'd realized something quite important.

If the two demons had changed in body, but not in mind, that meant that the hairy, pawed, cold-nosed form of her companion was no different from his new one if his heart were the same. Sure, now he seemed to want to kill everyone in the house and was twice as tall and brandished two sharp swords, but he was still the same she had come close to, right?

She'd come to love him in a way she didn't expect as a dog, and seeing him like he was now, suffering from a past unknown to her, she just couldn't help but think it was her duty to get on good terms with him again, if only to discover what it was that made him such a lonely and mysterious creature.

She just hoped he'd at least give her a try. And this 'Jewel' of Kagome's gave her the security that she shouldn't be as fearful of him as she felt now, to her pained heart, since it protected her from him harming her. Nonetheless the thought of him, her Sesshy, harming her after all they'd gone through, was devastating.

She'd just have to remind him of their love for one another.

Not that he'd call it 'love', but, it was a start.

Rin looked back to where Sesshomaru was, still looking outside their living room window. He seemed so neglected there, all alone. It was like nothing that had just happened to her that day meant as much to her as him—now that he wasn't even her dog anymore, she still felt like they both held a sort of bond between each other.

Sesshomaru felt a change in the air inside the room and turned his gaze behind him to catch her eyes resting on his face. He didn't know why this human made him feel so much. How could she? He'd care less about any of them, but not this one. He couldn't quite remember why she was so close to him in the first place, and even when Myoga had spilled the beans earlier on he still couldn't let himself come to believe it. _That I, Lord Sesshomaru, have come to such an end as to '_feel'? _And for a female human, no less? That is preposterous!_ What a disgrace of his character and blood that was!

He was attached to this human in such an alien way to him, and he found that thought to be quite sickening.

Rin maintained her gaze upon his eyes and he did the same, waiting when his own would eventually scare her off. But it never came. Instead, she seemed to walk on air as she glided toward him, surprising Inuyasha and Kagome who were left speechless. What was Rin doing? A question she herself didn't know, but felt that she should do.

She came to him and stopped once she came face to face in front of him, her eyes still locked onto his intently, her head looking up. Sure she felt a bit…afraid, for some reason she pushed behind the far corners of her mind, but she still wanted to know…

Sesshomaru's demeanor changed a bit once his right eyebrow arched, but his eyes remained as cold as ever as he inquired, "Do you have a death sentence, mortal?"

What came next almost made him gasp. Rin smiled. And not just any ordinary curling of the lips, but a warm smile. How dare she! The lord felt so humiliated and yet…a tinge of pleasure, if one could call it, at the same time. Here was the only being he had ever come across to oppose him in such an enlightened manner, and he didn't even think of brandishing a sword, or a claw. Not that that could get him anywhere, anyways. Instead he felt like taking his rage out on something else, and not on her, if only not to harm her frail, little body.

Her eyes seemed to be the only thing he could remember intently without having need of anyone to recall the last few months for him. He just needed to see those eyes…and she was the only thing he wouldn't-not think about—or care for.

Sesshomaru growled and whispered, "Foolish humans!" his eyes closing in frustration and the words escaping his clenched fangs. Had she no respect at all! He instantly turned away from her and headed towards the apartment's front door to exit the room immediately. But because he was so enticed on how Rin made him think so much he was greeted with a light pink shield in front of him. Right. The miko accidentally trapped them there. Great. Feeling slightly embarrassed he walked over to the hallway and went into the only room he was familiar to: Rin's.

The girl was left saddened some and she slid down the wall, drawing her knees to her chest as she hugged them once she fell to the floor. She had mixed emotions now, and didn't want to deal with them anymore. How did she come to this? One second she was brushing his fur, the next he hated her guts.

_Wait-- that's it!_ She noticed, suddenly. After being transformed back to his normal, youkai self, he had asked her to keep brushing him again. He had liked being brushed! So there was a good side to him, after all! It was just hidden away deep inside, somewhere, for some reason.

She'd find out just what reason it was.

Inuyasha feh'd as soon as his brother disappeared behind the wall and mentally cursed at the stupid barrier that kept him from getting as far away as possible from his older half sibling; and killing him, of course. What other relation existed between the two?

And what's worse, Myoga had left somewhere as he always did when sensing his life was in danger, so he was stuck with the worthless humans who knew not what to do with the powerful Jewel everyone sought out and would kill to have.

What a pathetic ending for such a priceless gem.

Thinking about it, the hanyou would actually kill the flea if and whenever he decided to come back, if only to take his anger out on the most defenseless thing he could get his claws on.

Kagome looked at him from the kitchen and in her heart she felt sort of sorry for what he had gone through, having the truth thrown to his face just an hour ago. Having lost a love, a fight, and a whole lifetime in the only place he could call 'Home', it being the past, and having proof of living his life like an animal which most likely ashamed, disgraced, dishonored and humiliated him in any and all possible ways. But what could she do now?

After a while she noticed him staring at a chew toy intently, and watched bewildered as he picked it up, examined it on all sides, sniffed it a little and then squeezed it, making it squeak before biting into it. He stayed like that for a while before taking it out of his mouth, licking his fangs to wash away any taste it left behind in his mouth, and toss it aside. It landed next to him on the couch and bounced, squeaking again. Inuyasha then crossed his arms and closed his eyes, seemingly pleased from his test, a serious look in his features.

Kagome cocked her head to the side, amazed at his resemblance to her dog. Not only did he have those adorable ears perked up on his head which always made her drawn to tweak them all day, but they still twitched from time to time, just like they always did.

He was, in a sense, _cute._ He'd always been cute.

She smiled when he had thrown the toy away, remembering that that was his favorite dog bone he always liked to play with as a dog.

_I guess that, in heart, demon or not, they're still dogs, _she lost herself in thought.

That's when it hit her. She knew she would hate herself for this, but a strange feeling had been bothering her for some time now, only she just barely figured what it was at the moment. She was the only person who could help them out, whether she wanted to or not, so her kind-hearted soul had no other choice.

Besides, it was only time before the no-killing-zone-type shield turned off, so she might as well get on the human-devouring beasts' side while she could. She had Rin to protect.

"Rin," she called for her. "We need to talk."

The girls met in the kitchen and whispered as low as they could, trying to be as discreet as they possibly could with their conversation. But it wasn't like a pair of demon dogs couldn't help but listen to it with their super-human hearing, which the girls hadn't yet caught on to.

"It's not like we can go to the F.B.I. or something; they'd never believe us," Kagome pointed out. "And it seems we are the only ones who can 'help' them out, even though we have the faintest clue on how to, so we have no other choice."

"We should win a Nobel Peace Prize for this," Rin nodded. How she could always maintain a sturdy, humorous optimism on every unhopeful situation, Kagome would never know. Then again, that's what she admired about the girl the most. But she knew she'd have to remind her to stop feeding Sesshomaru for a while, if she knew what was good for her.

"Oh my gosh!" she screamed. "I forgot!" What, in fact, _would_ the two demons eat! It wasn't like they sold deep-fried human legs at the supermarket! This wasn't going to work out. That, and thousands of more insane difficulties that stood between the two species and worlds that were, literally, centuries apart from one another.

Sighing, and giving in to it all before the third world war erupted because of the two strangers in their home, Kagome turned herself in to the impossible—and frankly, the inevitable.

"We're keeping them, Rin."

As soon as her little mind registered what her friend had said, Rin jumped up and down like some one who's just won the lottery.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I _love_ you, Kagome!" She squealed and hugged her friend to death and Kagome wondered why the Jewel wouldn't protect her from _that._

Kagome held her chin up on her hand, elbow lay on the table. Before she would get caught up in one of those meaningless conversations with Rin again, she added dully, trying to level up the mood a little, "If it weren't for movies with werewolves, vampires and Frankenstein monsters building up the notion of the possibility that anything is possible in my head, I'd never think _this_ possible." Kagome then realized she had used the word 'possible' too much in that sentence. Boy did she wish she were wrong about it.

Rin laughed, getting into the idea. "And aliens."

"Talking dogs."

"Talking _bugs,"_ Rin added, to Kagome's grief.

"Know what? I kinda hate 'A Bug's Life' now…"

Rin laughed. "What about 'Back to the Future'? Or 'Blast From the Past'? We couldn't have come to a sane, logical explanation for the abnormal and past-futuristic things happening to us without their help?"

"Rin," Kagome muttered, "I lost my sanity hours ago."

Rin laughed. "Ooh! And what about 'Lord of the Rings'! You know, with its pointy-eared, hunky elves and all, right? _Right?"_ Rin nudged her with her elbow, sheepishly.

Kagome's head suddenly popped up at the realization of the depth of her naïve little friend's comment.

"Rin…don't tell me you…No—wait. Your not even _thinking_ what _I'm_ thinking your thinking, are you?" she asked, afraid to be right.

"What?" Rin replied, bobbing her head to the side.

"Oh no…This is going to be harder than I thought…" Kagome groaned and let her face hit the table. Not only would she have to keep Rin from feeding the demons, but from falling in love with them as well.

That would certainly bring disaster.

No that they weren't caught in it already.

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If you have questions about anything, let me know. This three-chapter adventure was harder than I thought, and I didn't want it to come out confusing…as much (believe me, I couldn't sleep for weeks trying to pull it off right). Anyways, ask and I'll answer. And sorry 'bout the tardiness; when I'd finally finished the chapter, the site wouldn't post it up for days.

**Important:** Since writer's block is a definite turn-off, for both writers and readers alike, I'm stating now that all ideas are more than welcome (just in case I'm stuck again). I can't promise anything, but you will have credit for anything of yours I use. (_Meeko_, thanks for getting me out of the 'killing Myoga' idea, lol) And I'm more than happy that we got out of this 'transformation' subject, so I can get on with the best part of the story:

How to teach old dogs new tricks. XD!

So Read and Review! And thank you for joining me in this weird and exciting adventure so far. Things are only going to get better from here on.


	12. Giving In

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha one bit. Well, it's not like I'd want to any way… (sobs maniacally)

Welcome to 'Of Men and Their Demons, Part Four!

-Naw! Just kidding!

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**Chapter 11: Giving In**

Five days into Shikon-Jewel house arrest and Kagome had finally given in to the idea of playing Monopoly with Rin, to the girl's amusement. The two had been playing for two and a half hours now in the living room, Rin laying flat on the floor, swinging her legs in the air while Kagome sat Indian style.

It was Kagome's turn, so she rolled the die and moved ten paces, obeying the board and taking a chance card to read out loud. Her eyes widened at the realization of her move. "Advance token to boardwalk." _Damn._ That was in Rin's domain.

"All right! Wahoo!" Rin waved her hands in the air; she couldn't be a happier millionaire.

"Stupid die! I can't believe it! That's the fourth time I've had to land on that thing!" Kagome pouted, threw the card down, and crossed her arms.

"Haha! But now I have the hotel! So that's..." Rin sat up and did a mini drum roll with her forefingers on her inner thighs. "Two thousand dollars, baby!"

Kagome groaned and fell on her back. "Damn you, Parker Brothers!"

"Cough it up, Kags!" Rin said, closing her eyes and shoving her palm toward Kagome. Kagome sighed and gave her the remaining money she had.

"I swear, you cheat, Rin." Rin laughed. She was better at Kagome in any and every game they had ever played, to her friend's disappointment.

Rin traded the money for even more hotels, bringing her count up to seventeen. She was owner of every railroad and color in the game, except the two cheapest ones which Kagome owned. But not for long…

Inuyasha growled. "How long does that game take, any way!" The girls looked up to him, who was currently tapping his bare foot impatiently, laid atop the couch's highest point like a cat would, held up by his right arm.

Kagome answered him like she would to a new colleague in a cell. "For ever, if need be." That was the third time he'd ask that question. At first, though he tried not to show it, the girls noticed he was curious to what they were playing when they brought the board game out to the living room, asking what everything meant whenever they landed on a space or took out a little green house. The biggest news to him was when they told him that the colored paper they held was supposed to be money. Now that was just crazy!

But the hanyou was getting bored, especially since he understood squat about the game. "If you ask me, this whole thing is just a waste of time when you could be training to use the Sacred Jewel properly," he added bluntly, still tapping his foot, but closing his eyes now and wiggling his right ear.

Kagome looked away, wanting to tell him to stop bugging her all the time about the Jewel, but said nothing, in case he decided to swing at her or something of the sort.

"Are you always this cranky?" she dared say instead, her pride getting in the way of the little voice inside her head that screamed at her to shut up.

The hanoyu snapped his eyes open. He wasn't expecting a smart remark from her. Then again, he'd noticed that was just who she was by now. "Cranky? _You want cranky?_ I've almost been killed, turned into a dog, thrown five hundred years into the future and stuck with you. It could have been anyone at all, but _no_, I had to be stuck with _you_. Of course I'm pissed!"

There he went again. He always used that excuse whenever asked a question. But then again the girls couldn't blame him. He was kind of right.

Sesshomaru turned to face his brother from the corner that was recently named as his, for all the time he spent there. "Shut up, half breed," he said with clenched teeth. Boy was his brother annoying! Get over it, already!

Inuyasha bared his fangs and snarled at his sibling.

"I'm going to make dinner, Rin. We'll leave the game for now." Kagome had to change the subject in an attempt to keep the two hot-heads from breaking something _else _invaluable in the house.

Rin got up and stretched. "Okay. But that doesn't mean that your getting away with getting your butt kicked later on!" she laughed. The guys stared at her. Were women really this violent hundreds of years from when they lived? How could the males have let it come to this? The world sure was bizarre.

While Kagome began looking through the cabinets and drawers for ingredients and utensils, Inuyasha popped back down on the couch and moved the sofa so it would face Kagome while she cooked. The wonderful world of cable hadn't been presented to them yet, and staring at Sesshomaru all afternoon wasn't what he'd call entertaining.

Kagome noticed him watching at her intently with his arms tucked in his sleeves, wondering just how she could have put up with all this for almost a week now. As she started to heat a pot, Rin came into the kitchen, dancing.

"_In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came! Ba bum! That voice which calls to me, and speaks my name! Bad dum!"_

Inuyasha's ears jerked to the sides as the rock music played in Rin's ears, thanks to the magic of the iPod. His face was contorted, and he resembled more of a scared puppy by what he saw.

Sesshomaru arched a brow, curious himself to hear and see this madness. Where was the noise coming from? And why did it make this human jump around and scream like that so much? Surely humans took on demonic characters in the future—either that, or they all must have been descendents of brainless half breeds. The devils.

Kagome watched as her usual annoying friend danced around in her shorts to one of her favorite songs, sung by the group Blink 182 in the style of rock. She shook her head; not even the fact that they were still held 'hostage' with these two monstrous beings held her back from being her regular, crazy self. Well, at least she had convinced her to wear something more than just her undies, though; Rin was famous for her underwear model-like poses.

Kagome could hear the music too well from their immense volume.

"_And do I dream again? For now I find!"_ Rin did another twist and pointed an invisible microphone toward her girlfriend, not waiting for her reaction to keep singing. _"The Phantom of the Opera is there…inside my mind!"_ She played the invisible electric bass hard, scaring the boys a little—even Sesshomaru, though he didn't and wouldn't show it.

They weren't priestess. They were witches!

"Rin, you're scaring them…" unbelievably Rin heard Kagome's comment and took her headphones off.

"_Really?"_ Both looked over at the boys to see Inuyasha's cute, innocent, somewhat sacred look (which he hid horribly), and at Sesshomaru's unreadable expression on his face. He had shifted from his sitting position a bit while his claw was inches away from Tokijin, apparently being startled by the alien-like customs of this world.

"Oh." Rin walked over to Inuyasha who willingly backed away just a bit into the cushions of the couch before he climbed over it and later stood behind it, never taking his eyes off the technology in her hands. His claws gripped the furniture pretty tight.

He gulped silently before asking, rather shakily, I might add, _"W-what is that thing?"_ He sounded just like a toddler getting ready to get a flu shot at the doctor's.

Rin tried to hold back a chuckle. "It's an iPod," she said naturally. She took another step toward the couch and Inuyasha took another step back. This time Rin couldn't help but laugh a little. "Don't be afraid; it won't hurt you."

Between all the hanyou's snickering, complaints and bad manners, Kagome hadn't realized the true depth of their situation.

It would be like dealing with two year-olds for the rest of their time being here. Inuyasha was actually _afraid_ of the foreign machinery in Rin's hands. Technology might as well be monsters to them.

"Rin," she said, "come help me with dinner." She knew then that the two demons in her home were, apparently, more afraid of them than they were of the demons. That and this new, alien world they'd been launched into. She didn't like the thought of them staying for too long in her home, but if this Jewel thing didn't work, she'd have to show the guys how to cope with this new life. Just in case they were to ever roam the streets, someday, and not catch attention—much.

"Okay," Rin replied a little let down. She hated when someone didn't like her, and Inuyasha backing away from her made her feel like getting rejected. Still, she turned the music off and helped the best she could in the kitchen.

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Seven minutes later Kagome had had enough, and Rin was let out of the kitchen in a hurry. Classy words for getting kicked out, supposedly. Kagome opened the trashcan lid and let burnt pasta fall into it, reluctantly. Damn. Good food gone to waste, _again. _She should have known better than to let Rin in the kitchen with her.

Rin looked around the room, looking for something to do.

There was her Sesshy still sitting in a corner, looking at particularly nothing at all. She swore she'd never met someone who apparently never got bored from doing absolutely nothing. Inuyasha had sat back down on the couch again, and had been lifting his head up and sniffing the air for a while. _Food._ The girls had gotten used to both their dog-habits by now, considering they were dogs, in a way. But the sight never stopped being amusingly sweet.

Inuyasha scrunched his nose more this time, smelling something unfamiliar to him yet again. "What are you making?"

Kagome looked at him while stirring some contents in a new pot sparingly. "Um…Lasagna." Conversation was getting easier every day and more at ease for everyone.

Inuyasha quirked a brow up for a second, confused, and asked again, _"Luhsawna?"_

Kagome smiled. She was beginning to like her new, curies puppy already. "No, _lasagna._ It's a recipe made from ingredients from a different culture." She added the extra information to start the boy's education off.

"Wow. It smells…nice." Inuyasha's ears twitched a little, and Kagome's smile broadened. Yup. She wasn't minding the two siblings so much anymore. Well, with the exception of Sesshomaru, the antisocial cross-dresser, of course. Oh, and Myoga, too, wherever he was. Bugs were just so icky…

"Kagome always makes the most wonderful meals!" Rin proclaimed, suck-up written all over her face. Though she had meant it, really.

Kagome shook her head amusingly at her witty roommate and continued stirring, when a thought came to her mind. "Inuyasha…would you like some lasagna? It's really good stuff." Truth was he hadn't eaten anything yet, not that she'd known of, anyway. And five days of starvation was a horrible way to go. Neither had Sesshomaru, but he was a tougher nut to crack.

"Who? Me?" The hanyou pointed a claw at himself innocently, as if he'd wanted her to say that all along. His ears perked up, alert. "Uh…" He didn't want to seem too desperate or that he actually was hungry at all, and thought of what he could say that sounded just right. His sibling, a hanyou and human-hating (not to mention an everything-hating) grumpy demon being present all the time didn't help, either. Inuyasha had his own reputation to keep up. Though what it was, I don't think not even he was sure of.

Kagome noticed his reluctance and believed to know why he hesitated to answer. Though half a century apart men, scientists discovered, had never changed.

_Guys. _

"You can tell me later, when it's finished." Her history studies had been paying off. She could read Inuyasha's jesters like a book, most of the time. His ways of living were her specialty. But as long as the two demons had something in their stomachs, the better she felt that humans would be checked off their what-to-eat list and her _cooking_ would be what would save them in the long run. Though Inuyasha wasn't the one she should be afraid of, since over the last few days she'd learned that hanyou's ate pretty much anything other than human meat, the fact that they _were_ half human being one of the primary reasons.

Again, Sesshomaru was the one she had to look out for. And the brothers being able to smell just about anything, as they'd told her the day before, was a major drawback. They cold smell fear, so that was a luxury Kagome had to be aware of not having.

Rin was bored from their conversation and had started stretching on the floor. First she sat Indian style and bent, stretched, twisted, and curved her body in many unusual ways, before spreading her legs in a split and doing even more fancy moves, including touching the ground with her chest. Inuyasha looked on with amusement and Sesshomaru kept his eye on her from the corner of his socket.

After a while Rin stood up and slowly bent her back backwards, gaining her balance once she reached her hands to the ground in a backwards, arched bridge. Inuyasha was astonished. What in heck was she doing!

It seemed like Rin danced as she continued her antics, finally doing a hand stand and spreading her legs into a split, then curving them into more artistic stances. Her balance was impeccable and she had even managed to sustain her weight on only one hand at one point. By that time her shirt had started to slide down to her neck slowly, revealing her purple lingerie-covered breasts.

Inuyasha's lips parted a little, again curious to the era's eccentric fashion. He'd silently thought that no woman ever wore anything else under their kimonos, so this girl shouldn't have been different. His eyes had darted to the wall so as not to see her in her most vulnerable state, but hey darted back once his eye caught something else besides more flesh underneath. A bra. One of the finest wonders of the world.

Sesshomaru had noticed it too, and doing the same as his brother, he wondered what else this era had in store for them, if humans had decided to wear more than two pieces of clothing on their entire body. Strange indeed.

Upon noticing Inuyasha staring curiously at this creature, he found himself snarling a bit, feeling protective of her for some reason. Could it be because his royal scent was all over her, giving him reason to believe that Rin was something of importance to him once, when he was a mutt, as gruesome as that sounded? And why was his brother looking at her in that way? If Kagome was supposed to have been his human, why didn't he keep his dirty eyes off of _his?_

_Certainly 'his' Rin, though a mortal, couldn't be infatuating his filthy hanyou of a bother?_

Kagome, very much busy in the kitchen, hadn't noticed the tension had gone up in the room until she noticed Sesshomaru already beside Rin, staring at her upside-down form.

It was then that the younger female noticed him as well, staring at his feet in front of her like she was, upside-down. "Wow. Those are really cool boots you have," she said, forgetting that her shirt in her face impaired half her vision.

Kagome looked in horror as a new shock of worry went through her body; youkai or not, they were males. And Rin was just flashing them. "Rin—look out—"

Sesshomaru grabbed Rin by the waist with both arms with incredible speed and sat her down properly on the floor in one full swoop, making the girl hold on to her head from getting dizzy. Her shirt fell back into place, covering her from top to belly. He looked at her confused face for a while and then strode back to his corner again, going down the length of the wall as he sat down in his former position, but not before sending Inuyasha a death glare to back off his territory.

Inuyasha sort of got the hint, more confused than anyone to what had just happened. Was his brother doing what he thought he was doing? Did he not like him looking at the human like that? Who knows? Wasn't he supposed to hate them? Then why did he seem to care that he was eyeing her like that?

He looked away and found his former chew toy on the couch again, and made it his duty to stare at it until everyone in the room felt less uneasy.

Rin looked back at Kagome, blinking. What had just happened? Kagome gave her the silent cut-it-out sign, arranging her stiff hand at one side of her neck and moving it across in a swift manner to the other side. Rin shrugged.

"What? What did I do? I was only practicing gymnastics again," she asked innocently. Kagome repeated her actions, hoping the girl would get the point and do something else. There was more silence in the room except for the steam coming from the kitchen and the sound of the utensils stirring and clinking as they hit the pots.

When he thought the time was right, Inuyasha asked shyly, "what were you just doing now?" It wasn't that he was intrigued by the shirt mishap, but amused by the arm and leg dance, as he saw it.

"Oh? You mean gymnastics? I was just stretching."

"Stretching? Since when do people stretch like that?" Inuyasha scratched his cheek with a claw, interested in what she had to say.

"I don't know. For a long time now, I guess…" Rin held her chin up and tapped her forefinger close to her mouth, thinking. She didn't know herself. "Well, I'm not quite sure, but I know it's fun! Do you want to give it a try?" Kagome opened a bag of pasta as she looked over at Rin, who to her, was about to do something stupid again. Then her eyes went to Inuyasha, waiting to see what he'd say.

Inuyasha seemed to be thinking for a moment until he nodded just barely, forgetting the incident with Sesshomaru and all. "Uh…sure." It beat doing nothing, which was what he'd done for days now.

Inuyasha joined the human on the floor, moving the couch further away to the wall for space. The two began stretching; Rin being the teacher and Inuyasha trying to mirror her movements. Soon enough everyone in the room was reminded just how women were more flexible than men. Rin was crowned the queen of all that is bendable, and Inuyasha nearly broke his neck twice, to Sesshomaru's amusement.

Inuyasha threw himself on the floor, exhausted from the entire workout. He laid panting, limbs stretched out wide apart. Rin, on the other hand, was making a clean landing as she laid herself on the floor next to him, after having outdone him in a single-armed hand stand. Impressive. Even so, that the older sibling had to admit he was impressed by it. Then again he always thought everyone was better, stronger, smarter, and more agile than his brother, but no one ever believed him.

"So," Rin said between shorter breathes, "how old are you guys?" Kagome's ears picked that up. She hadn't really thought about that much.

"Uh," Inuyasha looked at the ceiling, as if counting. "I'm over a hundred. Don't know about Sesshomaru, though. That guy's _old," _he teased somewhat.

Rin immediately stood up, startling him a little. "Now way!" That news came as a shocker to her.

Inuyasha shrugged. "What?"

"That's not possible!"

Inuyasha felt a smirk coming up. "What do you mean? All demons live for hundreds of years!" This time, Kagome almost dropped the lasagna mold. Oh dear. That wasn't good. All hopes of them dying of old age before her so she had a way of not having to have them around went flying out the window.

"Shut. Up!" Rin squealed.

"I beg your pardon?" Inuyasha asked, rather offended.

"Shut. Up! No way!"

Inuyasha growled, getting a little annoyed. "I already said it's true! If you don't believe me--"

"She means she's surprised, Inuyasha," Kagome clarified. She always had to serve as the translator on these things. "'Shut up' now-a-days, if you say it a certain way, means that something sounds so incredible that the person thinks your just pulling their leg."

"Pulling _what_?"

Kagome sighed. This translation thing was harder than she thought. "It's the same term for when you're…uh…_lying_ to someone, in a way. You know; saying a tall tale?" She waited for him to respond but hearing none she walked over to the living room herself to straiten things out.

She looked down at the hanyou, her hair sliding to the side as her hands rested on her hips. "Just forget about it; it's nothing." She turned to her girl. "And Rin? No more talking."

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Inuyasha couldn't help but lick his lips slightly as the lasagna was set on the table in front of him, the sweet smell of cheese pouring into his nostrils. Kagome took her oven mittens off and started cooling the food. "Doesn't it just look yummy!" She smiled at him, trying for conversation. Inuyasha hid his tongue inside his mouth again and nodded, happier than usual. Boy was he starving! He didn't dare ask for or take food until now, and he didn't care a rat's ass if everyone made fun of him at this moment. Not even Sesshomaru who was still in the same corner, preferring to save his dignity over taking any assistance from humans (as always) could make him want to say no to this heaping dish of chow.

Rin came in with the salad and dishes, and soon the table was set for four.

"Come and join us, Sesshomaru! It's very good, I promise!" Rin smiled at him brightly.

Sesshomaru, who'd been looking at the three for some time now looked into her eyes first, then at Kagome who exchanged looks with him, lastly at Inuyasha who took the time to ignore him. He finished by closing his eyes and dropping his head down indifferently.

"I don't eat human food." His cold voice waned Rin's joy a little.

"Uh…Then, would you like something else?"

"Rin," Kagome warned, hoping the demon wouldn't ask for a side dish of corpse.

"Don't bother," Inuyasha stated folding his arms and squiggling in the strange, new high chair under him. "He'll eat when he's hungry enough. Just let it go."

Though that was what Kagome feared of, she nodded and sat down, tapping Rin's arm to sit down as well. Rin obeyed after looking at her former dog for one last time.

After a minute or two there was only silence in the table, expect for the clinking of the forks against their plates. Still struggling to find a way to eat from the quadrupled teeth-injected stick, Inuyasha let the lasagna piece fall off his utensil, staring as it drooped to the plate. Forks, spoons, _sforks!_ What in damnation did these futuristic people think! It was one thing to be eating without chopsticks and from a plate, but it was another to be sitting three feet above the ground for this.

"Inuyasha, please don't play with your food."

Inuyasha peered at Kagome.

"Um, Kagome? Maybe he doesn't like lasagna?"

Kagome eyed Rin annoyed. "Of course he likes it! I made it myself!"

Inuyasha looked form one girl to the other. Cat fights were a familiar term in his day as well. "It's not that, it's just…" He fidgeted a while with his fork and lasagna again and the girls stopped eating too.

"I don't like it here. I mean… I want to go home. No offense, but I prefer _my_ time better…"

They weren't expecting that. Needless to say Sesshomaru either, though he was thinking the same thing…

Kagome exhaled softly and looked at him. "Well, I'm sorry for that…but I can't do anything about it." Inuyasha was showing his less grouchy side, and she thanked him for that. His saddened, baby-face reminded her so much of when she used to cuddle next to her dog at night, a time that seemed so long ago right now.

A thought came into Rin's mind. "Well, I don't know how to make you feel better, but I do know this…"

Next thing you knew, the three were eating on the floor, sitting on the couch cushions and using the coffee table as their dinner table. Inuyasha smiled.

"Thanks. That was…nice."

Kagome smiled back, chiding herself for not thinking of that sooner. Though she was having undesired company over for who knew how long, she should have made it easier for them to adapt to modern society. The table thing was a good start.

"You know," Inuyasha began, finally being able to gulp down heartedly a mouthful of Ramen with chopsticks, "you guys aren't_ that_ bad, really…"

Rin smiled. "Thanks. Your welcome."

Kagome nodded, but held back a tear, knowing he'd preferred heated noodles over home-made gourmet. Men.

When everyone had finished, Inuyasha pet his stomach, overly thankful for the food. He'd swear he'd never go hungry again! But as soon as his frown showed itself on his face, it turned upside down. The girls noticed something was wrong; something was unsettling him. His ears even drooped down and he held his stomach tight, almost moaning.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" Kagome wondered, patting him on the shoulder subconsciously.

"I…I…" Inuyasha tried to look up to her as manly as he could. "I need to empty myself out a bit…"

Kagome knew what he meant. That was old talk for 'I need to go potty'.

Suddenly the color in her face faded to white, thinking back when she had wondered days before how the brothers had managed to 'go' while in their home. Now she realized that they hadn't. And there wasn't a tree or a bush in sight to use like in old times, meaning…

She'd have to show them the industrialized world of toilets and plumbing, and how they had to use it.

Oh shit.

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P.D. and Happy Birthday to meee! (June 27) Right now, your looking at a nineteen year old fanfic writer who feels like a deer caught in headlights when she realized that being this age means you only have a year before 'teen' will never again be used on you. This is sugarsweet pie, saying _you don't know what you have until you out grow it_, and waiting dreadfully for that big two-decade celebration of my life here on Earth. And I'm only on the twelfth chapter of this fic. That's _so_ me…

Read and Review!


	13. Empty Thoughts

Disclaimer: If I _owned_ Inuyasha, I'd ask him if he could get me a date with his brother. Sigh. --No. Make that _blackmail _him into doing it. (devious grin) Hehehe…

I love my readers, and _they _love Inu and Sesshy. Squea! Thanks for all the reviews! (Pounces on everyone) They make me want to update sooner. Problem was this chapter was a _pickle _to write! And I'm not a pickle person, if you know what I mean… So sorry for the wait!

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**Chapter 12: Empty Thoughts**

He rested his claws on the transparent glass, nails clicking on the surface as he lowered his head gravely. The Tai-youkai stared blankly at the sea of stars underneath, each light exploding like fireworks as the rain chiseled down on them.

The sky seemed to have grown twice in size in that five hundred year life span, releasing a rainbow of colored specks onto the ground and onto his face. Stars were rarely seen near the moon anymore in this place called 'city'. At times the white orb was the only thing left to see; _admire._

He always did enjoy the moon; he saw that now. Quiet, majestic, and solitary. Like _Sesshomaru._ A grand sphere between many small speckles in the dark, shining like none other and with the help of no one.

_This Sesshomaru._

He found himself thinking again; thinking was the only thing he ever did. But lately he'd been caught within its pain and hurting.

Life, it seemed, was no more. He wasn't_ Sesshomaru_, anymore. Not in the way he knew himself, at least.

He was no longer that stoic, proud, confident and fearless leader he had once seen himself as.

He felt weak and lost. _So lost._

There were all these uncertain 'things' pricking at his skin all the time now, dragging him into even deeper thoughts, deeper solitude, deeper annoyance.

He was _feeling._

_Feeling._

Sure he'd felt before, but never this much, uncontrollably.

He'd trained himself for hundreds of years to hide all these bothersome attributes, to suppress them, and had come so far as to shut them off completely. But they came back, proof of being with humans for far too long, haunting him every night. _Especially_ at night, when all was silent and everyone else seemed to sleep in peace. But not him. He was caught in these alien thoughts, alone now, the last demon on earth.

_Alone._ The word stood out like mad. He felt alone. _But why was it so hard to accept?_ The word was new to his experience, but it had found a way to take over his mind.

'_Alone'... _

The rain fell effortlessly against his clouded face, searching for answers. He'd never felt that way before. It was disturbing.

Suddenly, unsettling images ran through his head like echoes of voices, confusing him even more with their unfamiliarity. _Life, death, reason, meaning…_It wasn't that word anymore troubling him now-- _there were many, _popping up like irritating weeds in a field. It felt like there was more than one of him in the same body. And he didn't know what he thought of half the time, for everything was tossed inside him all at once, jumbled up, like an inescapable recurring nightmare. That's why he often found himself staring at _the outside_, just so to break away from his inside ache.

The rain kept pouring down in front of him._ Like wetness… _The fallen lord felt his soft cheek.

Last night he'd found wetness in his eyes, and he feared he knew what they were.

He'd seen his mother cry once-- and only then was she female. Not the son of the greatest demon on earth, not the heir of a vast stretch of land, not the half brother of all he abominated. Not the strong, untamed beast that he was to all those who opposed him; not the fierce opponent to all his enemies. Not the wreck he found himself in, now. _She_ had a right to shed her sorrow, not him. He stood for too much. And he had brought himself up to not be a 'weakling', as he saw it.

He blinked. _But he wasn't crying, _he told himself—just infuriated, that's all. He never cried; he couldn't. Physically, he really couldn't.

Growling, he punched harmlessly at the other Sesshomaru in the glass, who was laughing in his face. His worried eyes flickered with the external light. _Rage, anger, ridicule, defeat, weakness, torn, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, cold, lost…_

He was _feeling, _damn it! To hell with all of it! He wanted to kill something, anything, if only to make it all go away!

_Why couldn't he just die! Why couldn't he just be left alone! He had no business with the Jewel, so why was he taken into this mess!_

…_Damn it all!_

He'd never been so caught up in such a feeling fury and knew he was beginning to lose it. He wasn't prepared for something of the sort.

He found his growling intensifying every passing day because of it, while his silent bellows raged on in hate. _Hate of everything. _

Rain started to fall like mad in the outside world, aiming at his window. Thunder claps hit. He found that his tense demeanor couldn't take it anymore. Clenching his fangs he let his shoulders relax involuntarily and let down his breathing no longer a huff, his heart beat still pumping loudly in his chest as he searched to control himself.

_So torn…So… _weak_… _He closed his sore, worried eyes. _Damn it._

…And the wetness came back.

…The horrid feeling in his stomach came back, too.

_So dishonoring…_

He withdrew from his reflection and walked silently toward _her_ room; only she could take this away; make this wetness go away before it actually became something else, other than fury.

He tested her name, repeating it in his mind. _Rin._

That seemed like the most beautiful name in the world right now. Rin.

Standing outside her door he was inwardly grateful for the girls' sense of security around him and his brother lately. In the beginning they'd slept together in Kagome's room, locking the door and shoving hundreds of furniture in front of it as if to have a fort to protect them at night from the demons. Now they were comfortable enough to sleep in their respective rooms, going so far as to leave the doors unlocked. Yes, he was grateful for that-- because that was where he could feel sane again, being in her room at night.

He opened her door as silently as he could, peering inside to find her asleep, to his pleasure. He'd close the door again behind him, but it would make too much noise and might wake her up—not like the screen doors back in his time. He saw their purpose, now. _They_ wouldn't disturb her in her sleep like these noisy ones would.

Looking around he found so many colored flowers in the room; on the walls, on the counters, on her bed, which would have disturbed him some other time. Flowers were meaningless to him, especially since he followed the path of supreme conquest. Strength was what he needed. Not these frail, thin, insignificant patches of green that wilted away so easily when stepped on.

_But he didn't feel as strong anymore. He didn't feel _immortal _anymore._ And that was what could have disturbed him the most. But what he did fear the most was what would be his next move; he had strategically decided all his future play outs in the past, like a true warrior should, but now he was tossed in a spiral of ifs, ands and buts. He couldn't plan ahead in this strange, new era that was so alien to him. He was left with uncertainty now, and he hated uncertainty.

He'd reasoned there was probably no way of getting back to all that he knew, and if there was, time lines and lives would be changed, different, if not only his than the whole world's as result from playing with time itself. He wasn't stupid. He knew the implication of it all. Not like he cared for it, but there was no guarantee that the Jewel could even bring him back. So why struggle in even greater misery than he found himself in now, trying to find a way? The internal fight ate him alive.

He growled silently again, clenching a fist.

…_Most importantly,_ _why go back,_ if he'd been humiliated like none other by that wretched 'Naraku'? If he'd have another chance, he'd kill him ten times over. But that would mean nothing anymore. He had been defeated in battle already. No one could take that back. He was a _fallen warrior_, and it killed his pride. For the first time ever, he felt worthless because of it. The shame.

His wild thoughts ceased as he stopped just close enough to be near the girl's face. He observed her intently.

She seemed so at peace there, oblivious to what was going through his troubled, aching mind; the worry that kept him restless; the new feeling of sorrow that plagued him to no end.

_And slowly, subconsciously, her rhythmic breathing lulled him motherly._ His breathing slowed, and his eyes softened from their usual coldness.

_Flowers._ They seemed to suit her, he thought for a moment again, but in a more soothing way. He decided he didn't mind flowers so much anymore, if _she_ liked them so much. They represented her now. Soft, fragile, and humble. _Unprotected. _

He slid down the wall to sit and watch her face tonight as long as he could, before she awoke. It was the only thing that could keep him from going mad. He stared into her face and only at her face, at times thinking of nothing, other times feeling rather tired himself. But he never knew how and when to let his guard down, so he couldn't sleep. He'd forgotten. Feudal times wouldn't allow it. So he couldn't sleep, because he'd forgotten how to.

And now; now his armor was useless, as were his swords and title. Fighting. Defending. Conquer. Honor. Power. Nothing was left for him here anymore, perhaps if he went back? No. It wouldn't be there if and when he went back. Everything he worked and fought so hard for obtaining was all for nothing; taken away from him. He carried nothing with him, because even physical strength no longer ruled this new world. He had lost everything _here _and _there_, Present and Past.

He looked up from the warm, white sheets caressing her skin and traced her resting figure with his sight, eyes glimmering from the window's soft light.

Here laid a sweet child, oblivious to it all. No one could ever know or come to grasp why he hated everything anymore, not even her-- the one he felt that knew him more than anyone now, for some reason. No one would understand, as much as he wanted_ her_ to at the moment. It was impossible. Incomprehensible. And he was giving up before he even tried to explain.

_Then there was his brother and the miko._ He hated to think of it, but he was stuck with them now. All three of them-- those human offspring. Their four scents swam all over the place, driving him insane everyday. There was no doubt he had stayed there for possibly over a year in this 'house', the way all four scents intertwined with one another. If it were that way, than it meant he had been..._pleased_, staying there with them. The two humans and the half breed. _How uncommon for him._ How confusing, destructive.

And yet, he often found himself feeling like one of them. He was now a weak, powerless human, the one being he despised the most. Like a mortal, feeling son-of-a-bastard.

A gust of wind blew against the rain outside and he held his breathe as he watched her stir in her sleep, unaware of his presence. He blinked as she licked her dry lips and yawned softly, turning to her side, her face away from his glare.

_Rin._

He'd forgotten why he hated them so much now, those _humans_, just staring into her face. He wasn't bothered by her presence at all in the house. _Perhaps because she smelled of him the most?_

Closing his eyes he inhaled slowly, deeply, taking in that heavenly aroma. Her scent was wonderful. _Beautiful._

_So intoxicating._

He wanted to know why she smelled like him, _of_ him so much. He of her as well.

There were so many reminders of the curse he'd been put through that he could only accept it, grudgingly. He was once 'hers' in a way he couldn't piece together. He had to find out what it all meant.

_He was hers…_

He smirked slightly. To think of it. A _human girl_ had actually come to tame the Great Lord Sesshomaru. She must be something indeed, to have achieved such a task.

He shifted a bit, the prior phrase ringing in his mind. He frowned. _He was hers…_

…But what did _he_ have left? _What did the lord possess now? _Did he not deserve something, too?

She tossed and turned again in her bed, returning to her former position, facing him in her sleep. She moaned softly and opened up a warm smile, as if having a nice thought.

Rin.

…_He decided he'd have her_. If nothing else, he'd have _her._ He'd protect whatever he had left, which was slim, and let no one else have it. The thought was almost selfish-- if he'd give a damn what others would think.

He couldn't ignore her scent-- her scent, which seemed so pure and content; so accepted, fusing with his own.

He'd make her his, if only to own _something. _And it wouldn't be hard at all to agree to; she smelled _so_ nice…

That intoxicating scent of hers was too much for him; like flowers in a field. Wild, exotic, _claimed_ flowers under the moon's full gaze.

The smell was soothing, calming, relaxing, as was she. The great lord closed his eyes tiredly, sleepily.

He would let himself drown in it for a while.

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The rain resounded in his demonic ears, leaving no space for reasonable thought. But he liked it that way. The delusion was giving.

Inuyasha thought and thought, but couldn't get it off his mind._ The resemblance was uncanny. Frightening, even._

He stared passionately into her eyes, hidden behind tender, closed lids that reminded him of another's so much.

She looked heavenly sleeping here in front of him, his precious miko. But she wasn't really here, and yet she was all the same. _She was here. She wasn't here. She _was_ here._

_No; she was both. _

He suffered under this turmoil.

_You live. No, you died… You _live.

He growled frustrated, shaking his head violently but tenderly as his bangs brushed against the girl's forehead.

_No, you're dead! And it's all my fault._ She couldn't be alive; she was only human. She couldn't live this long. It would be impossible for her to still live on, now, where he was. She was gone. _This _was her twin.

_Why did it have to be this way, damn it!_ Why was she gone? Why did she have to leave? Why did she have to do this!

_Kikyo._

It was all his fault. If only he'd been stronger, more powerful like his own father he could have protected her from Naraku, from being controlled by that mad-man. Then she would have not have had to give up her own life so that he could live on instead.

She was gone because of him, and that killed him inside. She could have died the last time he'd seen her, under Naraku's grasp, or she could have died years later as an old, old woman. It didn't matter anymore, because she wasn't _alive. _She wasn't with him.

_And he still loved her._

A tear glistened as it played on the rim of his eye; it streamed from his cheek with a heavy blink. The most forlorn tear he'd shed for the only woman he'd come to love, after his mother. Kikyo. She was dead, and he could do nothing about it. Another woman he loved had left his small world—had left him alone again.

The droplet fell on the linen sheets underneath as he could feel his own, warm breath blowing against the face in front of him, so dangerously close to her lips.

_No… they weren't her lips... _

…_But they could be… _

He growled angrily. He kept confusing their faces._ Damn it! Why did she have to look so much like Kikyo!_

He found himself screaming silently her name.

She stood for everything he had ever wanted, everything he had been deprived from. And she was the one who took it away from him with her selfless act. No; it had been selfish of her. _Selfish. _

…He hated her now. Why did she have to save _him_ and not herself? Why couldn't she have killed him too back then when all that he treasured was in her? That keeping him alive only hurt him more? Why didn't she save him from this hurting, here without her? Why? Why? Why!

His eyes watered thickly.

"_Ki…"_ His whisper came so frightened, so wanting, so confused.

"_Kikyo…"_ His lips brushed against hers softly as he said those words-- his lost, demanding words on her warm, familiar lips. Why could she be gone, and be here in front of him all along?

"_My Kikyo…"_ He choked. The words were second nature to him.

He hesitated for a sharp moment to kiss those strange lips-- but a faint, ghostly force tugged him back, telling him it wasn't Kikyo here with him, _it wasn't his lovely Kikyo._

He realized as his heart broke that it was this 'Kagome' laying in bed, asleep, as he watched on, his body shattering into pieces. Kagome. Not Kikyo. _Only Kagome._

He grabbed a hold of himself tight with fury, trying to resist this aching feeling in his stomach that wouldn't go away. His mind was playing tricks on him. Hellish tricks. _And he was afraid the woman in front of him would wake up and take him away from this delusion. _It wasn't real, but it wasn't _unreal_. He wanted to keep it that way, perhaps forever, never waking up from seeing his lover's ghost in form. It was what she had left him with to remember her of.

He gritted his teeth. _Reality hadn't been kind to him._

He closed his damp eyes and sat in a fetal position in his seat. He was alone again because he didn't have his treasure anymore. All that was left was Kagome. _Kagome._ It haunted his mind. The Jewel was nothing but a distant memory to him now, and he didn't want it anymore if his love wasn't here with him. He realized it with a stifled cry.

She was his life, the life that had been dead whenever a demon scoffed at him for being of human blood, whenever a human threatened him away for being of demon brood. She had been the only one to accept him for who he was; she had made him feel welcomed, a part of someone else's more content memories. And thinking about it, they were so alike in their need to share companionship. He had become aware that she had needed him just as he had needed her. They both were outcasts, in a way; him with his life as a half-breed, her with her duty to protect the jewel by herself, with no life of her own to live by.

But there was no longer an 'us' to contemplate now. There was no longer someone to follow, someone to laugh with, and someone to guide him.

He stood up from his chair, placed it back in its corner and gently returned to the woman's side, wondering close to her sleeping frame. His claws trailed on their own to her soft, silky hairs, running through them like they were the very part of her soul. He'd never really felt Kikyo against his skin like this, and this was all he had left to feel.

_Kagome._ Even her name was distant. But her smell was enticing all the same. It filled his insides with her aroma, making him feel full. _No more empty_. At least until he'd have to leave her again.

He'd found her smell to be relaxing; thick and smooth to his liking_. Filling. _

He enjoyed it that way.

Breathing it once more his hand jerked away and froze as he heard her moan softly, shaking from her deep slumber. Had he waken her? No. No! She couldn't see him like this!

He watched as the girl in front of him yawned, stirring in her sheets. No. She hadn't awakened. But she smiled lightly, most likely having a nice dream. _A wonderful dream._

Why couldn't he have one of those right now?

He let go of her and just stood there, staring down at her smile. Just like when he'd seen his old love smile in her sleep, only once. But this wasn't the first time he'd seen Kagome in her rest. Every chance that he could he snuck into her room to watch her sleep. Watch her _dream._ He himself couldn't join her; not when his youkai sibling was around.

Because then who would protect her? Who would protect the Jewel _inside_?

…_And her wonderful scent?_

No. He knew he couldn't, shouldn't lie to himself anymore. He came into her room to be with her, because she reminded him of the other young woman. He came here to torture himself every night for not having been her savior when she had needed him the most. He came here to be drugged to sleep by this new, filling scent.

Naraku wasn't to be blamed for this anymore; he blamed himself in his torment. He had Kagome now and it was all his doing.

The rain began to calm down outside the dark window, bringing silence and solitude to a half man, half beast.

_Kagome,_ he half-smiled, sadly.

He had spent all these days thinking, pondering, and amidst all the confusion in his head, he had come to a firm conclusion.

This new miko wasn't only the next Jewel barer, nor was she just a reflection of what was once the former priestess. She was _Kagome_. A female human of this new world, new era. She was everything opposite of what he'd found in the other her, her previous twin, and yet she was everything that Kikyo was, if not in body, but in her fighting spirit. He didn't know what centuries could bring of change on this earth, but he knew that this one wouldn't leave him alone to find them out. She would stay by him, just like the other her had done so long ago. There would be an 'us' again, even if it wasn't even faintly remote to what the same word had represented before.

_Kagome…_Each night he'd come just a bit closer to her, trying to figure just what it was he wanted or expected of her, and he'd found out what it was.

She would be his company now. That's all he'd ever wanted from someone—anyone at all. And she had already welcomed him into her home, perhaps even into her heart.

His ear twitched.

_Kagome. _The more it was said, the more it felt relative to him. She was his human that needed to be protected, taken care of. She was a reincarnation of his feelings for someone else; not his woman, rebirth—because this one was a whole different, fiery spirit that tested his own.

He smirked at that. He enjoyed the competition.

_Kagome. _Someone else to come to care for and…_love._

He closed his eyes slowly for a quick rest.

_He'd like that name now…_

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Both siblings, each in their own female's rooms, mused what all these conflicting emotions could mean. One ripped away from his quiet, powerful domain, the other torn from everything he loathed except from the one thing he found he had come to care for.

For one, there was everything to come back to, even though there might be nothing left if he did come back; to the other there was nothing he could come back to, only to the sole being he cherished from between all that hated him, most likely dead if he ever returned to claim it once more.

The energy-draining thoughts were overwhelming in the seemingly untroubled times of this new era of silence, where they noticed they had more time to think, more time to reflect on what their lives were or meant anymore…

And_ time_ had more time to make them miserable to no ends. All they could do now was forget about a dead past.

…But why was it so damn hard to?

These amazingly strong women, so unlike those they'd encountered in the feudal wars, were the only clue as to what they would do with whatever was left of their destroyed lives.

They were prisoners here, knowing regrettably that there was nothing waiting for them back 'home'-- that there was nothing to return to.

They could only live with what they had-- even if it wasn't fit for a lord or a misfit. Even if they didn't want it. Even if they knew they didn't deserve it.

_Outside the rain clashed harder, banged louder against the windows, leaving them alone with their curse after the curse..._

Their empty thoughts.

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Just in case I wasn't clear enough (sweat drop): Sesshomaru reflected upon his life and what was left of it, while Inuyasha kept confusing the 'live' Kagome with the 'dead' Kikyo, first thinking them to be the same young woman—then accepting the truth. I wrote it so at times one couldn't distinguish the narrator's words from the men's thoughts.

'**_What reasons would the brothers have to _want_ to stay with the girls'? _**Well, now we know. Both were REALLY hard to do, I noticed after a while (cough- last two weeks- cough). And I hope neither sounded too cliché. But I'm most certain I ain't neva' doing this 'inside look into their minds' again! It took me forever! It was the hardest chap to do. (I bet not even Rumiko Takahashi knows what goes inside _their_ heads!—matter of speech, anyway). Hopefully both siblings came out ok. (Crosses fingers) You tell me.

Read and Review. Tell me what you think.


	14. Keeping Forgotten Memories

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Sesshomaru... or everyone else. Just to change the common disclaimer a bit.

Now, on to business… (Ss pie drops down to knees and begins bowing uncontrollably) I love you guys! We have finally past the hundredth review mark! (Throws confetti and hands out balloons to anyone reading) I can just cry! That has been my goal ever since forever. Now on to the next big numbers! And just to show my love, here's the next chap, in a record-breaking update! Lol.

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**Chapter 13: Keeping Forgotten Memories**

Rin stirred some oatmeal in a pot, humming a soft tune as she prepared to pour in some more milk. Miraculously, she'd woken up before Kagome, so she thought it would be a pleasant surprise for her friend if she made breakfast for once. Sesshomaru watched from his spot in his common corner, also enjoying the quiet morning.

"_Inuyasha!" _

The peace was short lived, though, as the lord had to fight back a wince at the feminine yell while Rin prepared herself for what would come next.

"_No Kagome, wait! I-I can explain!"_ A last, frantic cry for forgiveness.

"Sit boy!" And its normal, ever-so-hurtful reply.

"Augh!" _Thud!_

The result.

Rin held on to the stove as the ground shook for a second. When it died, she smiled silently. Apparently Kagome had found Inuyasha looking at her in her sleep again—and ever since the miko had found out she could still use her command on the purple necklaces' owner, she never hesitated to use it accordingly.

_Hmm…I wonder if Lord Sesshomaru looks at _me_ in my sleep, too,_ she thought. Taking a quick glimpse over her shoulder she spotted him, eyes closed, so she began humming again while stirring, a simple smile gracing her face. She then heard a door open abruptly, slam, then another open and slam as someone stomped across the hallway, growling. Its muffled voice could be heard coming from the bathroom.

"_I swear; men have _never_ had any manners! What does it _kill _to get some privacy in here!"_

Rin covered her mouth and laughed. She couldn't help herself. The same scene repeating itself over and over again almost every morning was just too much. The bathroom door swung open again.

"Rin! Find me a shot, _pronto!"_ Kagome made her way into the kitchen still stomping her feet, Sesshomaru opening his eyes again slowly, following her with his sight. Sadly, woman now-a-days had no grace whatsoever and supposedly drank. _A lot._

But the older roommate stopped dead in her tracks as she saw one of her most horrid nightmares in play.

"Rin?_ What are you doing?"_ Before Rin could reply Kagome interrupted, eyeing the pot. "Never mind; I don't want to know. Now get away from the kitchen before you set it on fire again." You could tell she wasn't a morning person today by the sound of her voice.

Rin turned to her with shiny, puppy-dog eyes. She sniffed melancholy for enthusiasm. "Oh no you don't!" Kagome shooed her into the living room. "Be a good girl, won't you, and go play with something else? _Anything besides my kitchen?"_

Rin shook her head defeated. Kagome never let her have any real fun, so she retorted sternly with one of her more serious tones, which uncommonly showed up every once and a while. So well was her switch that her once-dog had come to believe there were two sides of her. "You _know_ I know how to cook, right?"

Kagome began washing her hands without looking back. "Not when you don't feel like it." She was in no mood for playing 'pretend cooking' and dried her hands on a cloth while rummaging through the fridge. "Just…go and clean up your room or something or, better yet; take out those boxes I told you to fill out yesterday."

Rin's jaw dropped, her usual silly character making its appearance yet again. "No! You can't make me do it, Kags, they're my life! You can't make me!"

"There's no use for them now."

"Uh-huh! Yes there are! I want to keep them! And they're mine, so you can't make me throw them away!"

"_Rin,"_ she warned, glaring at her, a hand holding the refrigerator door open.

The girl wined. "But…But…" Kagome pointed towards her room strictly. "It's not fair!" She obeyed, though, dragging her feet toward her room, over exaggerating her cries. If Sesshomaru were one to go so low as to roll his eyes, he'd done it twice now. What was he thinking when he decided to claim that noisy brat as his? Clearly she acted as a child.

Inuyasha came in not too happy himself, fixing his jaw to see if it hadn't been broken yet from the falls. He made for the kitchen, making sure to keep a safe distance from his former-master. "I said I was sorry, wench! Why is it you have to be so uptight, huh?"

Without saying a word Kagome shoved him the pot with the oatmeal. He grabbed it instinctively on its underside and the girl watched as his senses kicked in and the pot danced in the hanyou's grasp, trying not to hold it but fighting against making it drop to the floor all at the same time. After a while of embarrassment he finally grabbed its handle and exhaled deeply in relief. His hands really burned, but he was quick to insult. "What were you thinking!"

Kagome looked at him, fire in her eyes. He stepped back as she moved in on him, a little intimidated. "Look here, _bucko._ You have _no right_ to be angry with me when I've just caught you in my room, while I was asleep, looking at me like some sort of perv, _for God knows how long and for what purposes,_ for the fourth time now!" Inuyasha stared at her clenched teeth as not to see her eyes, ears clamped upon his noggin. He noticed they were quite clean.

"Well!" Immediately his eyes shot back at hers, not knowing what she wanted. "What do you have to say for yourself!" The hanyou gulped down on hard saliva. She really was frightening when she needed to be.

"S…s-sorry?" His voice was a higher pitch than normal, mixed with uneasiness. Kagome harrumphed and walked back to her food preparations.

"And as punishment, you'll have Rin's oatmeal to eat." Inuyasha made a double take. _Rin's_ cooking? As if being 'sat' wasn't punishment enough! He stretched out his hand and slowly let the pot rest on a table, backing away from the meal stealthily before the angry woman could notice him. Upon walking back to the hallway to get away, he bumped into Rin and caught a very large box she was carrying before it fell down.

"Oops. Thanks, Inu; I'd hate for it to fall." Inuyasha carried it for her into the living room without effort, seeing she was in desperate need of man strength. He set the box on the floor where she pointed out to.

"What do you have in this thing? It's so heavy," he said, meaning that it was more of a burden for her than on him. He looked curiously, ears twitching as she opened the lid and looked inside. There were so many things in it that he couldn't make out what any of them were. He sniffed them, noticing they held a very peculiar smell to them…

"Well? Is that it?" Kagome wiped her hands on her apron as she came close and looked into the box herself.

Rin sniffed again and took out what seemed to be a chewed-off white, jumbo bone, hugging it like there was no tomorrow. "I…I…I can't believe you made me do this, Kagome! You're so cruel!"

Kagome sighed at her immaturity. Snooping inside the box, she took out what was left of the body of an orange, stuffed-cat while Inuyasha took out its head after her, turning it on all sides in wonder. Her grave voice left no reason for arguing.

"Rin; it's time."

The girl started bawling. "But I don't _wanna!_ I love 'em!"

"Oh get over it! Technically, they're not even yours," she said flatly.

"I don't care!"

Inuyasha threw the head away uncaring and ran through the rest of the contents. He picked up each item one by one, throwing them on the floor behind him as he inspected them. The girls watched on, their eyes following the flying objects as they hit the floor somewhere, some even bouncing a few times or squeaking.

A ball, a bone rug and a comb with silver fur still clung to it; a bell, a bigger ball than the first, a racket, a dog dish, a rotten shoe; a tennis ball, two mini basketballs and tennis balls; a jump rope, two plastic sandwiches, three fake newspapers and an over-sized steak play-thing that was tempting enough to chew on but the hanyou knew what was good for him so he didn't; a doll, another yellow ball, six more cat-related things and a giant, fluffy, white bed for canine companions.

"What _are _these things?" Inuyasha took out a last, warm, light-blue blanket, covered in tiny dog bones, inspecting it.

"They're my dog's toys," Rin said, looking at the floor behind them covered in a sea of dog-heaven miserably. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha both raised a brow, her phrase hitting them like an awakening. It was then that the brothers recognized fully what the mysterious scent was.

It was royal dog drool.

Inuyasha felt a cocky smile come to his lips"You mean… _Fluffy's_ toys?" He took out a dog leash that read said name on the tag.

Rin nodded sniffing while wiping an award-winning tear from her eye. "Uh-huh. _Fluffy._ You know, _Sesshomaru._ I named him 'Fluffy', remember?"

Kagome stared speechless, the idea of reminding the immortal, aristocratic assassin over there that he'd been nicknamed after something cute and adorable hitting her like an _are-you-this-dense,_ ton-pound brick as she could imagine his eyes turning blood red behind her, ready for a massacre. She didn't dare turn back to figure if she was right or not.

It took Rin some time to realize the tenseness in the room until Inuyasha started shaking slightly beside her. Both women looked at him, thinking something was wrong with him, and heard as an almost silent chuckle rose to a mad laughter in just seconds.

Inuyasha held his stomach from all the laughing and tried to speak from between breaths and snorts. "You…You…You called him 'Fluffy!'" He fell on the floor and began rolling on his back, kicking his feet in the air. It was just too priceless! Kagome and Rin never took their eyes off him, sweat dropping.

"Hey! Sesshomaru! You hear that! They called you..." He laughed even harder, tears in his eyes. This was too good. He inhaled deeply and let out, "Fluffy!" before chuckling again. He never laughed so hard.

"Hey! Why are you laughing! We told you that before, you know!" Rin pointed out.

Inuyasha managed to reply an "I know", still laughing his heart out. "It's just that it's too cute! Ha ha! _Fluffy!"_

Kagome's heart plummeted. Surely they'd be killed for calling the lord that name. Rin, on the other hand, felt real tears coming to her eyes. She loved that name, and here Inuyasha was making fun of it. She yelled at him as a tear rolled down her cheek. "That's not funny!"

"Of course it is!" Inuyasha took the time to finally stand up, wiping the tears off his face. He never stopped grinning. "In fact, it's hilarious!" He changed his voice into a deep, reflecting, mocking one. "Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, has let himself be referred to as Lord Fluffy-kins of the human domains!"

Rin bit her bottom lip and started whimpering. Her eyes were hidden from all the salt water she was emanating. Inuyasha noticed this and immediately took the defensive, shrugging.

"What? What did I do!" Rin hid her face behind an arm. Surely he'd hurt her feelings,_ big time, _and he hated to see women cry. "Look! I was just kidding, okay! It really _was_ funny!"

Before Rin could bawl any more loudly, a metal figurine crashed into the hanyou's head at the speed of light, making him fall dazed to his side on the floor. Rin immediately shut up, while Kagome just kept her mouth shut. That is until she noticed that what was thrown had been one of her antiques, an elephant with its trunk now broken. She couldn't keep quiet then.

"You baka!" she yelled at the emotionless Sesshomaru, who was now standing up in his corner, evident him being the only one else possible to have thrown the object. "That's an antique! How many more priceless items are you two going to break in here, huh!"Rin gasped. 'Baka' was the last thing she thought they could ever call the two armor-cladding, sword-wielding, centuries old, demons-of-the-war in front of them.

Sesshomaru just narrowed his eyes and began a staring contest with Kagome, which was a bad idea, Rin thought again. She knew both Kagome's and her former dog's proud ness, so she knew she had to intervene quickly, which she did by coughing exaggerated. Both pairs of eyes turned to her now.

"I...uh…Hey look!" She dug into the box again, taking out another toy. "His favorite play radio!" Kagome barely kept herself from falling to the side.

"Are you dumb! Rin, give me that!" She yanked the toy from her hands and began putting back everything else inside the box. "Rin, we'll throw this out as soon as we can get out of this apartment, for _everyone's _sakes. A head-injured hanyou lying on the floor agreed silently to that.

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Kagome sat next to Inuyasha on her bed, trying to finish dabbing the throbbing lump on his head with medicine she'd found in her room. She would have finished by now if he'd kept still for once.

"I told you, I don't need your help!" he complained.

Kagome blew at the spot she was attending. "Of course you do, now hold still!"

Inuyasha argued again but did as he was told. He let her apply some odd-smelling ointment on it and finish up by wrapping some white bandages around his skull, careful of his ears. She pinned the cloth to keep it from unwinding and took Inuyasha's head in her hands to examine her work.

"There. All better now." The boy watched as she went through her drawers and placed everything back where it belonged, cleaning up afterward, her sweet, caring voice replaying inside his head.

When she was about done, he called her attention. "Kagome?"

"_Hm?"_ Paying no mind to what she had been doing, she looked at him curiously.

He fidgeted for a response, staring at the floor. He couldn't do this looking at her. "T-thank you. You know…for…helping out." He turned to face a far wall.

Kagome smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side. "Of course. You're welcome."

Inuyasha met her gaze again. "No. I mean—for everything. For…uh…" He cleared his throat sitting straighter on the bed, thinking he'd gone too far to go back now. He tried to find the right words but couldn't manage to spot them in the room, eyes wondering.

"It's okay." He looked back at Kagome again. Somehow she'd known what it was he wanted to say and he didn't even have to say it at all. He exhaled. Good. That was hard for him enough. He nodded knowingly, and sought for a change of subject.

"Did I ... I mean, you…ever have a box like that for me too?"

Kagome blinked. She hadn't expected that. In fact, she thought he would refrain from seeing anything that could remind him of his transformation. "You _really _want to know?" He nodded, a little too affirmatively, she could say.

Her mind blank as to what would happen next she looked through her closet and found two, three small boxes in it, putting them on the bed. Inuyasha opened one first as she stayed back, observing. She watched silently as her old companion took out old trinkets, holding them in his wandering hand. Memories flashed back to her of their time together; he could only imagine what those thoughts could be, since his mind had been erased from them. Toys, clothing, brushes; he looked at them all without saying a word until he arrived at a plastic toy ball in the second box. Staring at it all around he looked for something, as if he knew there was more to it than a simple play thing.

Kagome held her breath as he finally found the on switch, triggering it by twisting the two-part circular object in a certain way. His eyes grew in amazement as lights began blinking on and off inside it, the mechanisms used to operate them moving as decorative gadgets and wheels with teeth connected together to make one, big, moving factory. A song played not soon after, a clinking version of "London Bridge is Falling Down" playing over and over again like it would in a child's crib mobile.

The inu's ears twitched with the melody fondly. The glint of his eyes reflected the sparkling lights and his soon broadening grin showed that he was pleased.

Kagome smiled, thinking this was one moment she would never forget; of how a grown man could find joy in such a simple thing. She found that she took a lot of things for granted now. He'd probably never heard of such mystery or seen such a strange sight, and knew she'd instantly fell in love with his amusement with the toy, which could only be explained as child-like innocence to something new and shiny. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she was almost surprised at noticing his eyes on hers.

"This is neat," he voiced. Knowing him by now, he'd meant that he'd enjoyed it. His smile was telling a lot more.

Kagome returned his gesture and opened the last box quietly, taking out a large, thick book in her hands, making space for it in between them on the bed by scooting things out of the way. Turning it right-side up to face him, she pointed out the words on the cover.

"This is a photo album. It's where we keep our memories in." The hanyou was surprised at first, thinking something that awkward was absurd, but looked on anyways as she began opening the first page over to reveal some photographs of a pair of girls and their dogs. His eyes widened, a lone claw tracing the outlines of the flat people and animals he saw. How could such a thing be possible!

"It's a picture," Kagome laughed warmly. "We have these things called 'cameras' that can create a perfect copy of whatever we want and draw it on paper, like a painting; only its better than a painting. It's a 'photograph'." Inuyasha looked up quickly to show that he had understood what she was saying and let his eyes fall on the sight before him again. He realized now that the girls were her and Rin, holding on to a pair of familiar, yet unfamiliar faces.

"This is me and Rin," Kagome pointed out at the women, her finger slowing as it traced over the dogs later. "And this is you," she signaled. The inu was being nuzzled in his doggie neck by his owner, tongue outside its mouth. Inuyasha gasped, ears tall and alert. Kagome thought he was just so darn cute.

"And this is Sesshomaru, see?" She traced her finger to the dog next to it. The crescent moon and soft pink marks on his features were enough for him to believe her. That, and Rin was circling him tight with her arms, laughing. He nodded and without saying another word, took the book from the woman's hands and laid it on his lap, turning the page over.

His mind raced as his eyes roamed through tens of hundreds of memories, all those which he had soon to remember. It was as if each picture stood for a thousand words, and they were telling him all that he needed to know. The girls loved them. They really did love them. He could tell by their faces, forever held into a pose in these magical paintings; them, and his and his brother's happy gestures and wagging tails. Memories of forgotten sights, sounds and smells came to him in those instants that he held the book, voicing out his then hidden, but now discovered recollections as if one big déjá vu.

"_Wow! Is that really me! I'm so big…"_

"_Heh heh! That one's funny…"_

"_Hey! I think I know this place…"_

"_I don't believe it! Sesshomaru did _what!"

"_Oh my gosh! Look at all those dogs! Hey, do you think they could all be demons under spells, too? Ha ha ha!"_

Kagome inwardly hoped not and looked down at that last one. All four of them were in a dog park, Inuyasha running around freely being chased by her and Rin trying to make Sesshomaru go after a Frisbee. Inuyasha continued flipping through the pages.

Next were ones with the girls celebrating their first year as dog owners and the times when they gave them baths, fed them, pet them, combed them, and even brushed their teeth followed in the next pictures. Those were the funniest, since neither photo showed signs that the boys had willingly helped out in their dental hygiene, the girls ending up either wet or dirtied on every picture. Inuyasha pointed each founding out, as if it were a story book.

Last were photos that made Inuyasha look at them in silence, reflectively. Kagome couldn't see because he had lifted the book away from her view, until he finally gave it to her to look at. Taking it into her hands she blushed more than anything, imagining the thoughts running through his male head at the moment.

"So, uh…what does this mean?" Inuyasha wanted to know.

Kagome tried her best to make her voice not sound shakily. "Um…Almost all dog owners let their dogs share their beds with them." The fact was harder to say to him for some reason, though, as he was now a grown man and not a furry pet anymore.

"Oh…Interesting…" The subject dropped, and the two looked around the room awkwardly, not liking the silence. Kagome took it as a sign to close the book and put it away.

"No, wait—don't throw it away." Kagome looked at Inuyasha, than at the claw that was currently holding on to her arm. She had never thought about doing such a thing and was surprised he'd believed she was about to. Going back to the morning's conversation with Rin and all she realized that the hanyou was against throwing out all those times spent together on film, even if they weren't what he'd call "fond memories"; or at least that's what she thought he'd seen them as. Now she wasn't sure where he stood on the subject.

"I mean," he took his hand back, realizing her stiffness, "if you don't really want to." He blinked, not looking away from her eyes. "I don't mind."

Kagome smiled after a while, knowing this was just another way for him to mask what he really meant. It was because _he_ didn't want to.

Walking back to the closet she placed it on a high shelf securely. "There. I won't throw it away."

Inuyasha nodded, folding his arms into his sleeves. "Good. 'Cause I'd hate for you to blame me for regretting having thrown them away. It's not my fault you're so attached to these...memories of yours, as you call them."

Kagome laughed. _"Of course…"_

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Sesshomaru blinked to wet his eyes; they almost dried before he noticed he'd been focused intently on what his brother and miko were conversing on, his sights set on nothing in particular. To another, it would have seemed he was prying in on their private chat, but to him it was more like… insightful overhearing. His brother knew very well about his super-human senses, so if he'd wanted to keep something a secret from him, he wouldn't of said it at all. For now, the whole house was his domain, and he'd know what was happening in it at all times.

_Memories, _he thought._ They are memories. I suspected as much._ He'd seen those 'papers' before, clinging on the walls all over the house. But now that he'd listened in on the conversation about photographs, he saw now what he had overlooked before; emotions. The pictures showed thousands of emotions. On the human's faces, in their jesters, actions; it wasn't just a recollection of where they'd been, these photographs of theirs; it was a reminder of what they have felt, and _who_ they have felt with. Sure he thought such a frozen memory caught on painting was useless, but then again he could read someone's mind with them, and he was planning to do just that, having someone in mind to test his little theory on.

Said human was lying on the couch, bare leg bouncing on the other's knee, hair sprawled carelessly to her side and onto the floor. She held a distinctive yellow paper with perfect, blue, paralleled lines crossing it horizontally, some types of…commands, or scribbled nonsense, as he saw it, dotting it in no particular order whatsoever. The contrast of the paper and the extraordinarily thin ink used to dote it made a bizarre contrast, like perfect against sloppy-- just how a child would write on good parchment.

Rin bit at the eraser on her wooden pencil, caught up in deep thought. His soft voice took her away from it.

"What is it you scribble about?"

"Hn?" She would have missed it if the house wasn't so damn quiet, although she always tried keeping a sharp ear alert in case he ever did speak at all. Whenever he did, which was almost never, she wanted to cherish it and make the most of the conversation as she could. After all, how else was she going to help him feel comfortable around her, enough for honest interaction? That and he was hot. Beautifully hot.

"What do you write?" he repeated his question, although he hated repeating himself. Not that Rin was an exception, but he knew she had been well-concentrated on what she was doing to react quickly to something else-- he too knew how irritable it was to be disturbed while in deep thought. He'd care less if it were his brother, but again, this was Rin. Someone he _wanted_ to get to know more about. It was more so meant for…_ business_ _purposes_, as he saw it. So the reason for repeating himself.

"Oh?" Rin sat upright on the couch, which was facing the TV, which was on the wall where he sat. Looking at him for the first time ever with a certain hope for real conversation, since he'd finally addressed her into it first, she tried her best to sound intelligent and interesting.

"I was writing a screen play for my drama class."

Now, Sesshomaru disliked having to show his interest on something so… simple and unimportant, but most of all he hated to let someone know that his intellect had missed something. Nonetheless, he voiced his doubt.

"Explain yourself."

For a second Rin had forgotten that these men knew less than she did about happenings in the last five hundred years, even though they were hundreds of years older than her, but caught up with her wondering thoughts and explained to him what every word of her sentence had meant. Of course, there were words that needed more explaining than others, which she knew how to tell because of the slight movements in his face indicating confusion or incomprehension, which she, knowing him best (as a dog, but found out later on that they worked the same way in his human form) could make out. At times she found herself having to reach back into her vocabulary to find a suitable answer for them, one that he could understand with. When she finally finished, she thought she'd bored him to death.

She looked down at the floor grimly, feeling her face redden. "But I guess I was just blabbing too much; I'll quiet up now."

From her teachings Sesshomaru now understood that she held well education (although apparently ceased to show it)—far more than he'd ever suspect a woman could ever grasp. Evidently he was still left in the shadow upon trying to figure women out. These mysterious, secretive creatures were as incomprehensible to him now as they were then, in the Past, if not more, if they too received education like lords now.

"No."

His simple reply made Rin look up at him again in renewed hopes of civilization. He wouldn't say it but he had been fascinated by her little story; and he wanted to know more. More about her, more about this world.

Not waiting for her to speak first, he then asked something else alluring to his knowledge.

"What is that you hold on your face?"

Rin immediately starting feeling her skin, afraid he'd spotted something icky that would embarrass her to no ends, but found nothing. Curious, she took off her glasses and tried to feel better without them on.

Sesshomaru looked at her as if she were blind. _"What are you doing?"_

Rin met his gaze again and knew she was definitely turning red now. She'd embarrassed herself in front of him, alright. But how she did it, she hoped she'd find out soon.

The lord noticed her baffled expression and looked into her right hand. At a moment's hesitation, Rin put two and two together and finally realized what it was he had meant all along. "Oh! Do you mean these?" She pointed to the pair of specks and he nodded, just slightly. Boy would she want to kick herself for _that _later!

"Um, they're glasses. They're supposed to help you see, if you're loosing your eyesight."

Sesshomaru blinked. Was she going blind? Somehow that felt discomforting; for her, Rin, to have to experience something so disabling for a human such as blindness. He asked her.

"No, no, I'm not going blind or anything," she assured, chuckling. "They aren't the real thing. I just like to use these whenever I have work to do for a play. They make me feel smarter." After hearing herself she kind of felt stupid for commenting such a thing, and hoped he got it the right way. She hoped he didn't think she wasn't bright, although he wouldn't be the first. She waved them at him. "You see? These are props; you know, like what I told you about before? They're just for pretend. Here; do you want to try them on?"

She handed them out to him, encouraging him to walk up and take them if he wanted. He only looked them over once and moved his sight away to where the window above him was again even though he was too low to see through it beside watch the sky.

Rin sighed audibly, but lightly. Again, their relationship was going no where. So, being the outgoing, daring person that she was, she took it to herself to do something about it.

"So… '_Lord_ Sesshomaru', is it?" The question was lame, but at least it was something and it drove his attention back to her, if only after a moment's passing. He nodded, again almost blind to the common eye. The two stared into each other's eyes for a while before Rin caught on that it was up to her to say something else or she was going to loose this breakthrough forever.

"What were you 'lord' of?"

He blinked again before answering in his smooth, bass tone. "I inherited the entire Western lands when my father died; I ruled them after him as one of the most feared taiyoukais in the country." Rin was surprised; a little by this new information, but more by his complete answer. She'd gotten more from him than she expected, and she liked this part of him that talked to her so normally. Upon thinking his words over she realized that what he was saying was something _big._

"Wow! Really? That's so cool!" She replied a little more joyously than she expected, but she'd juice it for all it was worth. "You mean, _all _of Japan's Western lands? Castle and _everything?"_ He nodded, showing more of it this time. Secretly, he was glad that she was fascinated by this discovery and had been more comfortable around him, communicating-wise.

"Wow!" She reminded him of an innocent, happy child again. "Well, I wished that I owned something like that…" She lay back in the couch again, crossing her legs one over the other, head resting on her arms. She looked at the ceiling as if thinking of something. It worked, because Sesshomaru was still watching her like a curious puppy—as she saw it. Good. She had him in her hands. Now, if only to think of something_ really_ good to ask this time…

Meanwhile, he thought of her words about his lands and domain. _Did she not possess a castle of her own?_ He knew they lived far above the ground, higher even than his full height in his true demon form. Why would she say then that she owned nothing in comparison to his wealth? Perhaps it was because of all the other monstrous castles he saw outside their window as well? Maybe everyone had one now, and they were common. A lesson he would learn about skyscrapers soon enough.

"So, glad you have opposable thumbs now?" Rin looked at him from her side. Either he wasn't taking the joke, or he thought she wasn't serious about the comment. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, she'd have to explain about that too?

He blinked. One moment she was pretty interesting, the next she was talking gibberish and nonsense again. This human was too complicated for him to want to understand what she really was sometimes.

Rin took the time to change the subject. She'd said too many foolish things already. She looked to the ceiling again.

"'_Sesshomaru'._ I like that name. It's pretty." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, the closest thing he could get to show frustration at her. Rin jumped up-right on the couch again and faced him, immediately apologizing once she noticed she had said something even more stupid, not having to look at his own reaction to find it out.

"I-I mean, I like it. You know, i-it suits you." His glare never left his eyes, and he thought that if she knew what his name really meant she wouldn't be still standing here in front of him, speaking to him of such things. "It means 'destruction' or something, right? I think that's brilliant."

Again, she managed to amaze him in a turn of events. She knew more than she was letting out to be, and her change of voice and choice of words drew him to her. She sounded like a brilliant woman herself; whenever she choose to act like one.

Rin remembered a more important question to ask. "Hungry? I can make you something. I-I won't even tell anybody. It could be our little secret?" She smiled, trying to seem inviting, but he didn't take the bait. Instead, he looked at the opposite wall in front of him.

"_No."_ The word was stretched as long as it could have possibly been. The girl even sore she could feel the word vibrating in her stomach from the owner's deep tone of voice.

The door to Kagome's room opened just then to Rin's disappointment, since she really wanted to try and feed her dog something in private. It was almost two weeks since they were stuck inside the house and he still hadn't eaten anything. Maybe she would try again later.

Kagome came into view, stopping in front of Sesshomaru's card board box of doggie toys. She looked at it, thinking of something. Rin jumped over the couch in a flash, getting in between her valuables and the one thing that threatened to destroy them with her insensitivity.

"No! I already told you I'm not throwing them away just because you said so. I love them too much!"

Perhaps it was because of her recent talk with the lord that one could find more authority in her voice rather than a child defending her things, Sesshomaru didn't know, only that she had confused him yet again with her sudden change of character. He could only relate its use to the fact that she had told him that she was studying something called 'acting', which she'd explained earlier on, in between other things.

Or maybe there was more to her than met the eye?

"Relax, Rin. I'm not going to bother you anymore with it. You can keep it if you want to."

Rin was a little surprised to the sudden change of heart, but tried not to let her feelings get the best of her just yet. She wanted the truth. "R-really? You mean that?" she asked incredulously, her words losing their prior authority.

"Uh-huh. It's yours. I shouldn't of had meddled in your affairs in the first place, anyway. I'm sorry."

Rin blinked, placing the back of her hand on Kagome's forehead. "Are you feeling alright, Kags?"

Kagome slapped her hand off gently and replied with a Spanish accent, _"Tonta_. Yes, I'm fine. I just…thought about it, that's all." She walked away into the kitchen. "It's about time I made some food."

Rin smiled. It seemed like Kagome was in a good mood again. The fact that she called her _baka_ in another language proved it. When she had the motivation, Kagome used any and all vocabulary she'd learned from Rin of her knowledge of cultures and world-wide travels. Now, only about twenty more languages to teach…

But first to the matter at hand. The girl crouched over and hugged the cardboard, soothing it on all sides and making perky, kissing noises all over. She then accented the drama by quoting one of her favorite movies, in the original husky pitch and all.

"_My precious."_

Sesshomaru was a little skeptical at first when hearing it, thinking she must be possessed by some sort of demon. But again, her uncommon actions every once and a while would make him sure of one thing: she was crazy.

Inuyasha came in just then and stared at Rin the same way his brother was, only showing signs of it on his face. "Hey. What's wrong with your friend, Kagome?"

Kagome let rest the bread she was holding on the table. "Nothing. She's just her normal, freaky self, as always." Inuyasha clicked his tongue and shook his head. He felt sorry for her.

Rin began dragging the heavy box back into her room, more than ready to keep it, along with the rest of the boxes filled with her lord's things. Because, of course, as a top-class dog owner she couldn't just have one box of things for him; she had to have _many._

"Then again she's only acting out a movie we saw, so it's no big deal. Not like she's been possessed by a dem—" Kagome decided not to continue that phrase.

Inuyasha blinked at the new word._ "'Movie'?"_ He heard something he liked.

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Omg…I'm writing more chapters than I'd originally intended. But I think its okay, if they're pleasing…and not thirty pages long each, lol.

Read and Review : D


	15. Letting Go, part 1

Disclaimer: C'mon! By now everyone knows that I don't own anything besides my Fluffy™ blankets and plush toy! Geez… And yes, I couldn't be a happier author! I take my reviews to bed at night and cuddle wuddle with them like I would Sesshy. (okay…maybe I said too much…?)

And SO sorry guys! First I got all depressed from reading a LONG angsty fic and couldn't find inspiration to write. Then a friend taught me how to RP and that helped, but studies began and…blah blah. Hopefully this chap isn't too dull; and I won't not-end this fic. I just kind of take time to update now. (sorriezzz)

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**Chapter 14: Letting Go, Part One**

Rin was squatted on the floor, searching for the best title all four of them could watch together on the girls' big screen TV. Unbeknownst to her, she gave everyone a clear view of her tight rear end because of the position she was in (and a little help from the hot pants she wore), and Inuyasha tried his best to pick at rug threads on the carpet to take his mind off of their firm roundness while Sesshomaru eyed him every so often to dare him to even look at Rin—specifically her butt— wrongly.

Kagome came up behind her, bending over. "So, what 'we got?" Rin showed her some of the movies she thought were interesting enough. Kagome read each one and her eyes grew in disillusion. How could she have let _Rin _pick out what they were going to watch with those youkais over there!

_Beauty and the Beast; __E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial__Ghostbusters __; The Lord of the Rings;_ all had something to do with aliens or mythical creatures fighting against humans and/or ending in awkward situations together. Not something that could actually take your mind off the tenseness already existent between the two species in the room. Better leave sci-fi and fairy tails for some other time…

"Rin, are you dense?" Kagome sighed and decided to pick out the DVD herself. Looking through the cases in each categorized shelf, she made out to find the right one suitable for the occasion. _Sharlette's Web; Babe; Homeward Bound; _no—no talking animals for today, either. They had more of it than they could chew lately.

_Miracle on 42nd Street; The __Nutcracker__; Passion of the Christ;_ definitely not something religious or Christmas-y for the demons to watch… They might think they were being exercised or something. That, and Santa wasn't a good roll model for them because he portrayed an old, big, fat guy sneaking into people's houses at night to leave behind unmarked packages for little kids to open without the consent of their legal guardians, which, in the long run, could give them ideas...

_Child's Play; Children of the Corn; Texas Chainsaw Massacre; The Ring; Saw; Bunnies gone Wild…_ "Huh?" Kagome took out the last one from the shelf, looking oddly at the partially naked women on the cover with little bunny ears. "What's _this _doing here?"

Rin shrugged. "Dunno. It's possible that it came over with the rest of the DVDs when Miroku brought them over." That's right; the perv had let them borrow most of his collection of movies. Hence the wide selection of films and that last, corny recording of what seemed to be something that Sango would _definitely_ like to know about later. Women had to stick together, after all. Kagome shook her head and resumed her search. Movies with tons of blood and graphic, horrendous death in them were not something she wanted to watch with the battle-armed assassins over there. To give them any more tips on how they could kill them slowly and painfully would be suicidal. "But why not this classic, eh Kags?" Rin suggested. She held "Troy" in her hand. The older girl thought about it for a short while.

"It's a chick flick, Rin. Guys don't like that." Expecting to hear Rin's objection to her declaration and getting it, Kagome began to remind her of all the semi-nude scenes with Orlando Bloom and Brat Pitt, using her world-renown knowledge on Snoop-dog talk to get it across. Rin shrugged.

"Well, _yeah,_ those are the best parts!" The older girl sighed and shook her head, for once silently agreeing with her younger counterpart. But the movie had a few major flaws to it, too. It featured fighting, blood, and gruesome death—all things she wanted to avoid from a movie right now. So Kagome continued to convince her of choosing another movie in that strange tongue, nodding her head to the side, signaling the men in the room every once in a while, indicating that it was because of _them_ that they should rather stick to more PG related topics.

The guys looked at Kagome who they knew was talking in a different language just to keep them from understanding her 'secret' message in curiosity, discomfort, and resentment. The girls had done it for a while now, discovering unique ways in which they could get around the fact that dog demons where really bad at giving people some privacy. They'd come to write down their conversations on paper, speak in strange words like they were doing now, tap the furniture in interesting rhythms in a code known as "Morse's" and had done pretty unusual signs with their arms and hands while mimicking meanings, something called sign-language, all apparently ways of communication. They hated whenever they did something like that, for they knew they were talking about them right in front of their faces. But they had to give it a hand to them for coming up with ways to keep their thoughts secluded from the youkais, even if it _was_ so God damn rude. Somehow the women showed more competence than them in tactics and team work ever since their transformation. It was embarrassing.

Rin sighed. "Fo' shizzle. But all that's left is 'Gigli' and I don't want to scar the guy's for life like that, this being their first movie experience and all…" Kagome agreed with her and soon Rin had gone into her room to look for her own flicks, coming back with the perfect one. Kagome looked at it and agreed, and then she made way for the popcorn, Rin taking on the soda.

The women dashed in different directions while the brothers exchanged glances, wondering just what the other two were planning…

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Not long after the window drapes were closed and all lights went out to darken the room its best, the disk was loaded into the DVD. Inuyasha sat cross-legged on the couch's left hand rail while Kagome sat on the cushions to his right, Rin farther down. Sesshomaru had somehow been convinced to sit close to the furniture but remained on the floor a few feet away from Rin so that he could watch too.

When everyone was set the boys watched Rin throw some popcorn into the air from her giant bowl, catching it with her awaiting mouth, while Kagome turned on the DVD with her remote.

The inus raised their eyebrows in fascination as the strange box's screen flickered on, colors of all kinds flashing in their faces. Words and images started popping in and out, and Kagome could see Inuyasha actually turning to leave the room, startled by the animations. She got a hold of his arm before he could get away.

"Inuyasha, don't worry; it's just the T.V." He looked at her like she was the only one not noticing the potential dangers of the freak show in front of them. She smiled back, explaining to both him and Sesshomaru that this was like a magical device that told stories of all kinds within it. It settled them down a little, though more questions erupted when little people started appearing on the screen, which the dogs thought had been bewitched beings placed into a curse. That was even harder to explain.

All in all they managed to calm them down again, going so far as to bribing the hanyou into distracting himself with a bit of popcorn. Soon he hogged it all to himself, although he barely ate much because of the salt. The girls just rolled their eyes and continued watching the show while he played with it in his hold.

While the images ran through their eyes, Rin and Kagome sang a little song here and there, laughing at a joke one time and cooing to a handsome man in another. And just when things seemed all too peaceful, a darting UFO flew across the room, pecking the lord on his royal forehead. He flinched and turned to Inuyasha who was looking around the room innocently, whistling. The young women noticed something had disturbed the Daiyoukai but thought nothing of it, even though they suspected that it had something to do with the hanyou's suspicious act. They thought that if they said nothing, maybe whatever it was that was bothering him would just go away…

They turned to the TV screen once again and started to hum a recognizable tune playing on it cheerily when another mysterious speck flew again across their faces, this time getting caught by a very large claw before it hit Sesshomaru on the head again. They watched in bewilderment as it began disintegrating from a silent, green smoke-screen that emanated from the open palm of its owner before discovering that it had been a popcorn flake. Suddenly giving the hanyou food that was commonly used as projectiles wasn't such a good idea.

"Do that again and I'll dig my poison nails into your _throat,_ half-breed."

Kagome turned to said person, noticeably angered. He instead was wearing a very smug smirk on his lips. "Inuyasha! Stop throwing popcorn!" The guilty mutt feh'd, and with a tweak of his ear sat back properly again, obeying like a good boy should. Rin eyed him, ready to counter attack if he threw something else at her dear Sesshy-kins.

The screen flashed for some time then, more music playing. Everyone seemed to relax a bit, but the tugging feeling that it wasn't going to last long keeping them from enjoying their pre-show. They were right, and not a minute later yet another flake had decided to take a kamikaze ride in the air, directed towards the older youkai. The teenagers saw it hover over them as if in slow-motion, unable to prevent the inevitable. Both opened their mouths into a big "O" in the spur of the moment, as if trying to tell the flake to turn back before it was too late, to think about his wife and kids before deciding to end up as a pawn in this whimsy sibling rivalry.

The flake didn't listen.

But the very unexpected happened; it was shot back with the lash of a fierce, light-green whip, sending it darting back toward the unsuspecting hanyou as he tried to dodge it with a matrix-like bend backwards. Somehow Sesshomaru had possession of weapons other than swords it seemed, the girls learned. The action proved to be too slow for the flake that threatened him and soon the room was echoing the whimpering cries of a hound as time seemed to run its normal course again.

Inuyasha clamped a claw over his eye, drops of blood dripping to the carpet. "You…You…you poked my eye out!" he snarled. He stirred a little, pointing a shaky claw at his sibling. "You _son of a bitch_ actually poked my eye out!" For once, or at least since their stay at the home, Sesshomaru smirked. Really, truthfully with-all-his-heart smirked. Inuyasha growled menacingly, ears pointing backwards like a mad dog would to its targeted prey. He barely got out of his seat, though, when Kagome held him back, standing up in the middle of the two.

"That's it!" she screamed. "No more commercials for the both of you!" Remote in her hand, she made to click for the menu button.

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After handing out ice packs to hanyous with bleeding eyes and tens of questions later about what that cold bag even was and a few more on just how did this 'magical box' contraption work, they were finally into the beginning of the movie, silence not reigning as golden as it should be.

"Hey…I kind of liked that corn-pop thingie."

"Inuyasha, just stay put," Kagome said, eyes glued on the screen. "No one's giving you anymore popcorn already. You'd only waste it like you did last time."

"Uh-uh," he shook his head defiantly like a kid.

"Shh! The movie's on! Be quiet for once, will ya!" she growled.

"Kagome, stop trying to make me shut up!" he hollered back at her, inching closer.

"_Inuyasha! Kagome!_ I can't enjoy the movie when you two are fightin', 'kay! Just be quiet the both of you!"

"…Fine." Kagome nodded in agreement with Rin, her eyes never leaving the show, for Inuyasha wasn't even honored the privilege of her sight while her movie was on.

"Humph. Fine…_little miss whiny,"_ the young dog said under his breath, as if resentful for the chiding.

Rin's face turned in a flash to him, taking on the threat._ "What_ did you call me, _fuz head?"_

It was Kagome's turn to snap at them now. "Rin, just ignore him! And you, stop yappin' or else you won't get to see the movie!"

"Humph. Fine!"

"Fine!"

And so…when the title had finally decided to make its appearance on screen…

"'_Spider man'? Who in_ heck_ calls himself 'Spider man'?"_

"It's Spider-_man,"_ Rin corrected the ever-so-talkative half-demon, for the umpteenth time now.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome put her finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

"…Kagome?"

"What?"

"…Can I have more popcorn, please?"

"Argh!"

"Not after you kept bothering my Sesshy you won't!" Rin said back.

"I will not repeat myself _again._ I am 'Sesshomaru', girl—not anything derived from, close to, or less than that. Get it right," the lord stated with his usual baritone stoic ness.

"_But…but," _she whined.

"Rin, stop bothering the demon lord!" _This isn't going good,_ Kagome sighed.

"Kagome, what's that?"

"Oh! A camera, Inu," Rin answered him in a jump, her mood taking on another swing.

"Oh," he nodded, remembering that those were the things that took 'pictures' of unmoving scenes.

"See, Lord Sesshomaru! Those are the glasses I was telling you about! You see, in the movie they're part of the character, but in real life the actor doesn't need them!" Rin pointed out Peter Parker's character.

"…Hn."

"And Kagome?"

An audible sigh. "…Now what?"

"…_Nothing…"_

"Inuyasha! Stop interrupting the movie!" He made it seem like watching a movie was a bad idea after all.

"What! It's boring anyways!"

"Hn." A grave voice accented. "Humans are such tedious creatures."

"Grr…Sesshomaru!"

"Inuyasha, just sit—"

"Argh!" _Thud!_

"Uh…Oops. Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

"Why you little…." The action _outside_ the screen kept getting better and better.

"Ooh, ooh! Look, look! The spider thing! Watch the spider thing!" a finger pointed in excitement.

"Rin, stay calm. I know this is your favorite part and all, but please stop bouncing on the couch."

"Oh. Sorry!"

"Grr…Wench! If you make me 'sit' one more time I'll…Hey…what's that spider doing…? What! Oh my kami…He's going to kill that human!"

"Inuyasha, calm down. No one's dying…_yet_…"

"And it's just a movie. It's not like any of this is real, so calm down, Inu."

"No, I know an incarnation of Naraku when I see one!" He growled an old battle cry, standing up that same second. The ice pack fell to the floor, his eye already healed. It had been just a small scratch, after all.

"Inuyasha! Put your sword down! Wait! ...Inuyasha!"

"Lord Sesshomaru, do something!"

"Hn."

"_Uh…I don't like that look on your face," _Rin gulped._ "_I-I mean, do something that doesn't involve _killing_ him."

"…_Hn," _was her less-energetic reply to her second command.

"Wait! No fighting in the house, you two!" Kagome began, trying to prevent another fight as Sesshomaru stood up from his spot on the floor, claw on the hilt of his Tokijin.

"What! He started it, Kagome!" Inuyasha shot back, claw on the hilt of his own weapon, the television screen blinking in the background, forgotten.

Rin sighed. Being a dog owner sure was harder than she'd thought it would be… "Guys, don't fight each other! You're brothers! Bothers shouldn't fight with one another!" Said siblings looked at her weird as she waved her arms in the air like a maniac, trying to prevent the inevitable. They noticed she wasn't a good fight-breaker.

"Inuyasha, go and s-i-t on the couch, now, before I s-i-t you so many times you wished you never _were _born half dog!"

"Do not remind me of my family's blood being tainted by that disgrace, miko."

"Sesshomaru! Don't say such things to Inuyasha like that! If you don't have something nice to say, than don't say it at all!" Rin argued back, standing in front of him, playing the part of a defensive older sister, though she was clearly the youngest, in both mind and body.

Golden hues stared into chocolate ones. The first pair narrowed. "I follow orders from _no_ one," Sesshomaru reminded. The girl's eyes slowly mimicked his, and her face mirrored that of his own, which was astounding, if she weren't using it against him in this argument that was making him hold back aggression, because it was with her. It must be all that 'acting' stuff, he reasoned. And he couldn't deny it—she was _good. _He'd have to get some pointers.

"Not while you live under _our_ roof, you don't. So stop being so rude or_ else_." His eyes narrowed even more dangerously at her.

"I believe you know not to whom it is you speak to," he challenged, closing in the space between them with a step forward.

Rin did the same, a hair's length further and they'd be touching noses. "That's a lot of talk for someone who doesn't know who _I_ am, either." The male snarled, his deadly fangs slightly shining from under paled lips. Rin smirked deviously. "Two can play at that game."

Also forgotten in the background, Kagome and Inuyasha stared as the younger woman's life dangled dangerously between death and criminal murder. Their bickering was left aside for the moment, and all they could do was watch and hope that the Jewel still held that damned barrier around, somewhere. Apparently it hadn't been doing its job lately.

But then something came across his mind, and Inuyasha was starting to believe that either he was being delusional, or that the one he called "brother" was actually not his brother. Well, only one way to find out.

Walking over to where the two were having their staring contest, he took his place next to them, ending up as a third head in an estranged circle of wits. Sesshomaru was the first to dart his glaze away from the silent fight, apparently thinking that his younger brother's intrusion of what little was left of his personal space was more tempting to kill first than the human in front of him that thought that poking his proud character was a good past time to have.

Inuyasha looked deep into his eyes, trying to find just what it was he was trying to look for. Sesshomaru made a low rumbling sound in his throat, clearly menacing the other mutt to back off. But the hanyou ignored this and put a claw to his chin in deep thought, smelling the air in front of him. He noticed that at that moment Sesshomaru's eyes widened to their original size, his snarling lip that once ran over a fang ceasing to move. Apparently he noticed what it was that Inuyasha had been looking for, and knew he'd just found it.

_Damn hanyous and their stupid, stupid demonic inheritance._

Inuyasha smirked smugly. Yup. The smell was there alright.

The youkai lord was so close he could rip every and all trails of innards from his sibling's bowels, but knew that a lot of things stopped him from doing so, the first on that list being fried like yesterday's meal hanging like a 'beware' sign in the back of his head. If only he weren't so-- _bah_, he couldn't even _come_ to say the word—of being purified he would have done a_ lot_ of things by now.

"You have something to say, Inuyasha?" he said slyly, trying to corner him into a menace. But the hanyou almost laughed. The poison spewing from those words assured him that even his brother knew what he knew now, and had just confirmed it.

"You…you actually like us, don't you?" The statement was so unexpected that the girls just _had _to gasp audibly, making the dramatic tense rise in the air. What in the world was going on?

Sesshomaru tried to remain as stoic as possible, though Inuyasha could still smell it on him. "You want us to think that you hate us and want to kill us, but the truth is that you really don't feel like that, do you?" Something flickered across his brother's dull eyes, and suddenly this profound finding was a lot more fun than he thought it could ever be. "Aha! I'm right, aren't I?" Inuyasha's grin couldn't be any wider.

Sesshomaru just stared. Maybe staring would make his stupid—but correct brother—go away, right?

The girls blinked. Everything about the two in front of them was confusing, even when they'd thought they'd learned all there was to them.

"Well?" Inuyasha seemed to want a confirming answer from the youkai. As _if_ he was going to get one.

His throat was suddenly grabbed by a very powerful talon and soon Inuyasha was struggling to get its tight grip off of him. He swung his feet in the air, gasping for breath. The girls watched shocked as Sesshomaru's demeanor changed again to one of his more enraged person—er, demon, eyes not having to be blood-shot to make them frightening.

"You think that I would _be_ so caring as I behead you in an agonizingly slow and painful death, _brother?"_ he spat as he usually would before a good neck-slicing.

His prey barely held back his smirk. "If you were thinking of going through it, _brother,"_ he repeated in the same accusing tone, "then you'd be purified by the Jewel hundreds of times by now. That's why even though you make to 'attack' me, it doesn't go off anymore." The girls blinked, both baffled and confused. "Because although you _do_ bite back," the meaning and reference being common nature to every inu-clan member, "your intentions are no longer evil—you are no longer a threat because you don't want to actually_ harm_ anyone anymore." That must have hit some cord inside of Sesshomaru for Inuyasha had to squirm desperately once the grasp on his neck tightened even more. Inuyasha tried laughing a little this time.

"Go ahead. _I know you won't go through with it."_ Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and by the smell of it, he was getting pretty angry. But still, Inuyasha noticed, there were no signs of actual homicidal attempts in it.

"Do it. I _dare_ you to."

That was it. The last straw. The hand gripping his brother's neck thought to actually go through with the dare, and Inuyasha was starting to go red from the pressure to his flesh as the girls screamed for Sesshomaru to stop, but all he could do was imagine throwing Inuyasha to a wall, digging his sword into his guts, tearing him limb from limb, then grabbing what was left of the massacre and doing it again and again and again and again and...

The thought alone must have not been enough, for his brother's words were starting to reveal themselves as true. He hadn't been purified or electrified yet, and Sesshomaru still felt the power of the Jewel still surrounding them, meaning it was still in use.

_Meaning_—the all-mighty lord choked—that his bloody excuse for a sibling was talking sense. That deep down, he really wasn't going to kill anyone here. That deep down, he had grown to acknowledge these confusing, enraging, trouble-warming souls as things that were of relative normality in his day-to-day existence, as if it would be wrong to not have them there, clinging on to his dead heart like a wanting, racing through his cold veins like a need, playing with his once-relentless mind with hopes of renewed reason to live and making his oh-so prideful self no more thankful for it.

The Daiyoukai, tired of being tired of all this contradiction of his self and actions felt that that was excuse enough for having reason to truly kill someone here, and make it permanent.

"No Sesshomaru! Don't do it! Leave him alone!" the cries of the older human reached his ears. But the next were the ones that had a triggering effect on him.

"Please," she said, worry in her words, "you're hurting him!" Inuyasha squirmed in his grasp.

"_Please_… lord Sesshomaru," she pled again, eyes watered by upset, "don't hurt him." Rin's voice quivered and it brought his heart into unknown-pain. "I know you don't really want to. _Please_ put him down," she trailed off, ready to break. Soul shuddering, he recognized her voice as that of a once-loved master. And the words—their meaning as if taken from a knowing scroll that affected him with strange sorrow from its pleading and stressed reasoning.

His hand started to shake, desperately ready to either kill and be killed or let go and retreat like a coward.

"No…Sesshomaru," her voice strum the air softer this time. "I know you're not like this. I know you wouldn't do this." _As if _she_ knew _him! Bah! She'd be dead next! He would make sure of it!

"I…I'm sorry…" Something in him made him look toward her, catching her watery eyes with his own dry ones. "I'm… I'm sorry. _I'm really sorry!"_ she half-whispered, half-screamed in her own confused state of wanting and needing and hurting.

He didn't know what to do except narrow his eyes out of custom, and then cock his head to the side ever so confused. Why was she sorry? He knew she would_ never_ have to be sorry for anything, _anything_… She had this all wrong. Or maybe…

_He _had it all wrong?

He shook his head. She confused him so much! Here he was, ready to snap off a head like a twig, and _she_ was the sorry one. He growled.

Why did she confuse him so much!

…_Damn._

Without a second thought Inuyasha was dropped to the floor in a disgraceful pile, crouching and wheezing for air while the youkai walked to the wall closest to him, punching it with all his fury, his fist bouncing back as a pink light rippled where he'd sunk his knuckles into, the tides slowly growing out until it disappeared. The Daiyoukai snarled in anger and depressed rage. Great. Not even the walls could be destroyed. Stupid, stupid, stupid Jewel! He'd destroy it, even if he had to rip Kagome's chest open to get to it!

..But he wouldn't. Even_ he_ knew he wouldn't go so low as to be as barbaric as to do such a thing, now, when even _she,_ that wench of a pathetic-excuse-for-a-miko was part of his day-to-day existence, bringing relative normality into the silence that would no longer reign his new life of childish noise, unwanted-family, and pink, magical things that no one knows how to freaking use.

Kagome ran over to Inuyasha, seeing if she could help him with something as he clung to his neck and smoothed it all over, and Rin watched disturbed as her once best friend went behind the hall's corner, slamming a door behind him.

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Note: The scene the characters were watching was when glasses-wearing Peter Parker (future Spiderman) was with his camera at a lab as a photographer; later one of the spider specimens bit him, inducing him with the power.

Too long to fit into one chapter, I'm resulting to writing 'parts' again; though after number two, things WILL get less stressful and dramatic. : D

Disclaimer on all the movies which I obviously don't own. I also would _love_ it if someone showed me how to speak in Snoop-Dog talk. I had this little thing planned for the fic in there, but it sounded so 'blah' that I took it off.

Please leave a review!


	16. Letting Go, Part Two

Disclaimer: I own not Inuyasha or his fan club.

**Note:** I _may_ probably look over this chap once more in a few days before being completely happy with it. Nonetheless for those of you who can't wait that long (including me) I'm posting it now. Eh...I may not even work on it again, but oh well…Just a thought.

**Credit:** to **_Murdoca,_ **for helping me update when I need to. Lol. Thanks girl! (glomps) I love all my readers as well, of course! Your feedback always helps me keep going with the fic.

**F.Y.I.:** Just in case someone was confused about the typing: I've read that _"Daiyoukai"_ is supposedly the true form of saying _"Taiyoukai" (great demon),_ although both are accepted for their wide range of use. Also, _"Sesshoumaru"_ is the correct way of writing his name, for vowel sounding purposes, although I'll play with it a little. _"Sesshomaru"_ is just less of a hassle to spell sometimes, though it would shorten the pronunciation of the second syllable of his name. Lol. The "ou" makes you say it with more feeling, elongating the vowel sound. (If not mistaken with my info)

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**Chapter 15: Letting Go, Part Two**

"_Do it. I dare you to."_

"_No…Sesshomaru…I know you're not like this. I know you wouldn't do this." _

An hour or so had passed since the "incident", and Rin still found herself lost in thought, staring blankly at the surface of the countertop in the kitchen after having confronted the demon dog.

Why had she said what she said? Clearly she wasn't the one who got Sesshomaru so mad, but still; she felt like she was part of what caused his anger and discomfort in the first place, as if all this was her fault because she could have done better for her friend.

"_I'm… I'm sorry. I'm really sorry!" _

Yes, she felt sorry for _something,_ but there were so many something's that she wasn't sure which one it was. _He's never going to like me,_ she told herself, distraught. _I'm just another disturbance to him. I'm just a _nobody,_ like I was to my parents…_There was no way she could get him to understand how much she felt for him, of how much she loved him, that if only he allowed her, she would make all his worries go away _just because she could._

Digging her head deep into her open palms she tried to hold back the tears. Nothing was ever enough for him. _But dogs were supposed to be loyal, weren't they!_ _They_ were supposed to be the ones comforting their master's sorrow, not the other way around! And then…she sighed. She was being too selfish. She was treating him like a pet—her and Kagome were. And they weren't that anymore, no…But what they were—in their _whole,_ excluding their physical changes—was mind-wracking. Demons didn't come with a manual, sadly, and she was beginning to think that they came "as is", assembly required, and with some screws lose.

Rin moaned, tired. She had made up a theory as to why demons had become extinct: it was because they were so damn confusing and needed to die. _All_ of them. Of course she was just depressed at the moment, but still; it held its facts and logic, she reasoned.

Then Rin shook her head at the mindless monologue within herself. _It was absurd and uncalled for._ So she looked up to try and change her negative attitude.

She saw that Inuyasha was calm and sitting on the couch, asking far more questions than before while staring into the screen which flickered with thousands of sights and scenes of the marvelous unknown. He munched on handfuls of popcorn eagerly (taste buds get accustomed to salt quickly, apparently), drawn into the movie like never before. He'd come to the conclusion that this 'Spiderman' was like a hanyou, being half man, half whatever it was he was, and a hanyou being the hero for once was darn good to have in his opinion, given the history of hanyou treatment in his past. Beside him Kagome put more ice cubes in his ice pack and brought it against his skin. He flinched at the feeling.

"Hey! Stop that! It's cold!"

"Inuyasha, your neck is puffy and the swelling won't go down unless you put it on," she sighed.

"It'll heal on itself. Just leave it alone," he feh'ed.

Kagome moved closer to him worried. "Why do you always have to act like this?"

He faced her. "Like what?"

"You know_, invincible_. Just… let me help you out for once…I can't help it. I don't care if you're supposed to be immortal or whatever…whenever I see someone who needs my help, I just can't help but help them."

He rolled his eyes. "But that's just it. I don't _need _your help."

Rin grunted. _Why that little… _That was it. _The last straw._ She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't take_ this treatment_ anymore. And she was going to let all her frustration be known, _now._

The actress growled from the kitchen. "You two are a bunch of insensitive jerks, you know that!" In a startle the couple turned around in their seats to meet the face of a _very _angry Rin as Inuyasha's right ear tweaked at her tone.

"For a pair of ungrateful, centuries-old spirits you act more immature than fully-grown _men_ and it pisses me off that you even have the _nerve_ to go around acting all 'high and mighty' and better than everybody else, treating us like we're supposed to be some sort of plague or something! It's…it's _stupid_ and…and _childish_ and…and…" she drifted, getting emotional. You didn't have to have a good nose to decipher that.

Both Kagome's and Inuyasha's eyes grew in surprise at her rant. Rin _never_ talked bad about anyone (well, excluding her parents), less yelled, even if all she said was true and she did have reason to be heated. Although there seemed to be no words that Rin could use to express her anger at the moment, her clenched fist, snarling teeth and knotted eyebrows spoke volumes. But it was Kagome the one who noticed Rin was really fuming about Sesshoumaru's character and attitude instead of them, and was about to break because of it. Inuyasha was still clueless and caught off guard that his face read _dumbfounded. _The girl in front of him was still shaking, her eyes hidden by the way she held her head down.

"…And I hate you! I hate the both of you! I wish…" Rin's voice cracked as she pointed a finger at the hanyou accusingly. "I wish we never had met you!" As the first tears dropped from a watered eye bat she sprinted through the space between the living room and the kitchen to her room and shut the door closed with fury, digging her face into her pillow to cry. And although she felt extremely embarrassed for acting so childish like that in front of everyone right now, she cared more about not letting them be able to see her so upset and ugly. She hated the look on her face whenever she moped.

And she cried because nothing was going the way she wanted it to be; she cried because nothing ever went the way she wanted it to; she cried because not even her dog would stay by her in her worries. She hated him, hated Sesshomaru so much that she wished he never did turn back to normal because that insolent, dry bastard acted like he'd never known her, didn't remember all the things they'd shared, all the times they'd spent with just one another's company, all the love and trust she'd given to one of the few who she'd grant them to.

Each memory of him hurt her even more, and she sobbed like she were alone in her room, like no one could hear her, like no one could and had never taken her seriously in her whole life. First her mother and father, and now this; now Sesshomaru was the one treating her so uncaring and detached. Unwanted. That's what he made her feel like. So she languished in her river as time ticked away and it either went too fast or too slow for measure while her room felt so silent and uneven as if it too needed something warm and caring to drown in.

…_And as her life there passed, so did the ones beyond her walls, where those outside found nothing to say... _

And after a while her sobs died down, leaving messed-up, humid sheets as a result. Rin held on to her pillow for comfort, staring at the whiteness of a bare spot on the wall. The blur in her sight was gone now, and she could imagine that her eyes were no longer red, either. But she still felt like crying inside. She still felt alone. Surely Kagome knew her well enough by now to sense that something was wrong and would have gone up to check up on her, but this time she was behind on her usual timing.

_Stupid Kagome. She's late, _Rin sighed. The irony of wanting to be alone and not wanting to have to _cry alone_ hurt. She shifted to lay sprawled face-down on her bed.

The images of what had gone through that evening—and every other one before that—flashed in her mind and never ceased, as if trying to tell her what was wrong, what could have she done to fix _It. _She dug her face deeper into her pillow, angry at herself for thinking it could be that way, that life could be so cold to her and unthankful for how hard she always tried to make it better than it seemed to be.There she was, the only one to really be caring about the brothers' stay, and Kagome was the one 'getting the guy'. If only she could be like her; strong, willing, brave, intelligent. She always looked up to Kagome for everything and now she felt jealous of her person. How could she compete with someone like her? No matter how hard she'd tried, Sesshomaru wanted to keep the distance that existed between them, while Inuyasha was being so warm and understanding with the other girl.The young woman wiped small tears from her eyes with her arm, sniffing.

It wasn't fair.

_Nothing _ever_ is._

But she hated feeling like that, for Kagome's sake. It wouldn't be fair to her, either. Rin couldn't afford to be feeling unhappy thoughts about her best friend, mostly because Kagome didn't deserve them. Again, she was too great of a person to.

_Stupid conscience,_ she moaned again. She hated Jiminy Crickets.

Then: a soft knock on the door.

It was followed by a short rap after a pause. Rin silently sighed in relief. _Finally! Kagome!_ Taking a deep breath she said "Come in," as strongly as she could, hoping her voice hadn't come out too squeaky or like someone who'd just been disrespectful to everyone in the house and didn't' deserve any comforting which, in this case, was correct, in a way.

She heard the door open and close again, just like Kagome's usual routine whenever the two would talk. She'd sit down next to her on the bed and begin to stroke her gently on her back, running her hands through her long hair, asking in a soft voice what was wrong and whispering encouraging nothings to her ear. The kissing-up was always the best part.

But upon a minute or two of no response she kicked up her legs and swayed them in curiosity, wanting to know what the heck her friend was doing, since she hadn't done anything as of yet. Kagome was one to be known for her usual pep talk and loud mouth, after all.

Getting on all fours Rin looked to her back—and what she saw made her face pale to a color unknown to man. She yelped surprised, instinctively hiding her slim figure under the sheets with one big movement of the arms, as if it hadn't been covered enough. She hid her head under them and thought that if she could pass as a very menacing ghost that she would be let alone again. But that was too much to ask for, since she didn't have the holes for the eyes. She wouldn't pass for anything else except a girl under creased sheets; the Heavens must hate her a lot. No; maybe even hell, too. _Definitely_ hell.

Gulping, she peeked at the intruder again. No, not intruder—she'd let him come in; so he was like the vampire that once invited inside could no longer be held accounted for intrusion, because _he had been let in._

_Stupid, stupid her for letting that happen. How embarrassing. _Rin blinked, only letting her eyes be seen above the fabric.

Sesshomaru was sitting in the right corner from the door, his back parallel to the wall. A leg served as a stand for his right arm as his other leg lay flat on the floor, his left arm across his lap. He had been looking at her intently, Rin noticed, and for how long, she didn't want to know. How degrading she must have looked, crying like that in front of him!

She blinked again, holding back a shiver. She didn't know what to say, so she hoped that he would start conversation (so much irony in that prayer alone); that is, if that was his reason for coming here in the first place. After a moment he too blinked at her, and it was then that she noticed the tinge of _something_ in his eyes, something different, almost new, though the rest of him was unreadable as ever. He must have thought that he was good at hiding even that, for his voice held a less icy color when he spoke next, something that its owner most likely did not wish to consciously show.

Only when he did say his words did Rin finally realize what it was; _concern._

"You cry."

His breath had come out slow and rough and deep, but as if he had cared enough to ask, not like he'd been forced to. The vibes felt both soothing and loving in a way, and Rin stopped feeling so hateful towards him and fell in love with him all over again.

She knew he had been crying too. She could tell. He just _had _to be. She knew her dog—well, her _companion_ more than anyone ever could, so if not physically, he had been shedding inner tears. The knowledge made her want to cry even more.

She quickly wiped away again any faintest trace of sorrow-felt on her face, ashamed he had the genes to be able to hear her before from a mile away. Sure, she'd done it millions of times before, but that was when he was a canine, and he sure wasn't her dog anymore. This was different. He was a grown man, and she was a young adult—_that still cried like a little girl, _she realized, sadly. And if he thought differently about her she would never know, because it wasn't like he remembered those times when he would lick her tears dry or nuzzle her neck for comfort, right? In a way that felt strange, now, that he were one to do such a thing; and imagining him doing it at this moment, in his human form brought a light shade of color on her pale cheeks that weren't unwelcome. But_ that_ second thought was what made her blush bright crimson.

Feeling a little uncomfortable she looked away, the not-so hidden shade of red crossing her cheeks. It had been his room too, she thought, so it shouldn't be a big deal him wanting to come back to it and to her, was it? Maybe he _did _feel something toward her after all?

Sesshomaru understood she had expected someone else beside him to come through the door so he looked away, knowing it would make her more at ease—or at least he believed it would. He didn't like the smell of her salty tears earlier on, and that was what had made him come to her. That and she must have hated him for something he really couldn't put an exact finger on. It made the part of his stomach that was closer to his chest feel even emptier—which now, in her room, suddenly reminded him how hungry he was. _Not _a good sign if you weren't inclined to kill the human. Not that Rin wouldn't be tasty—but because…he just didn't want to. _Yeah…that's it…_ Though the Jewel wouldn't let him go through with it if he tried. And he would never go so low as to sit on the floor and wag his tail, whimpering as if saying "feed me" to her, no matter _how_ high the entertainment value it would be to get his food.

…_Blasted imagination,_ he thought; it was_ so_ un-lordly like! He shook his head. He must not focus on food…He must _not_ focus on food…Food was for mortals and for dirty hanyous, not youkais…

In his starving state he was staring at things in her room but never really _looking_ at them, until his eyes went to a picture on a shelf to his left. He left behind his more senile mind somewhere at that moment, recollecting his usual, although decrepitating saneness again.

_A photograph, I believe is the term?_ The confirmation that these frozen memories on paper were things that had happened in the past was somewhat reassuring. He may not have remembered what had happened to him in his stay in the home, but now he could try and recall them. If Inuyasha had vaguely done so while watching many 'photographs' in Kagome's room, in what they called a 'photo album', then he could do the same if not better too.

He picked it up. _He needed to know…He_ needed_ to know…_

Holding it closely, he examined again what he'd seen in the picture days before on his nights of wondering; a young girl with her dog. A young,_ grinning_ _Rin_ holding a dog tightly around its neck. It was an unusual contrast; the happy human and the straight-faced hound next to her, with a perfectly shaped crescent moon on its forehead, and double markings on either side of its jaw. He'd seen this and many other photos before, but had never asked about them, because knowing the answers to his question didn't seem too promising at the time, and was surely the truth he didn't want to accept; until now.

"Who is this?"

Rin snapped out of her foggy daydream about men-dogs as he called to her. She looked at him dazed, trying to understand what he had meant. Looking up at the flower picture frame he held to her she cocked her head slightly to the side, knowing the picture of the two of them he held in his claw very well. And he was pointing to the dog in the photo; she thought he would have guessed it by now. But she just smiled softly answering, _"You,"_ as if there where no other explanation to give.

Sesshomaru had hoped that he wasn't right. But she had confirmed it; the picture he held in his hands was indeed him and her… hugging. _Hugging,_ damn it. A chill went up his spine while he barely managed not to squirm. This was another proof of his time with the human under his nose, catching him in a lie if he were ever to deny the truth. Not only that, but _liking_ the truth. His stupid tail was up and wagging in the Godforsaken picture.

_If only the demons back home were to see this…_

He didn't dare finish the sentence.

"_What was I to you?"_ he asked again, hoping to clear uneasy images coming to his head.

Rin thought for a bit of what to say, when the fact was as clear as day to her. "You were my do—" She cut herself off before going any further. He knew that; he needed something else, something less unsettling, something less like the naïve her. Rin lowered the sheets from her face.

"You were my friend. M-My companion." It was then that he raised his head to her and both pairs of eyes met in a quiet exchange of reassurance to keep going.

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"_What now, Inuyasha? What's happening _now?" Kagome fiddled with her fingers on the living room couch.

"Shh! I can't hear if you keep talking into my ear, wench," Inuyasha barked as he turned up the volume of the television with the remote for cover-up.

"Hey!—"

"Shut up, will ya!"

"Oops. I-I mean, _what are they talking about?" _she whispered this time.

"_You_ know," he cut in, looking toward her; "When Sesshoumaru asks I'll tell him that _eavesdropping_ was _your_ idea."

"Yeah, yeah, just get with the program! _I wanna know what they're talking about!"_

"—The what?"

"Oh…never mind…" she gave up.

He made a pause. "You humans _sure_ have gotten weird…"

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Rin continued after Sesshoumaru's slight encouragement to keep saying more. "We would go for walks in the park…we'd read a good book at night in bed…well, at least_ I_ would," Rin cleared, giggling, "while you took a nap by my feet..." Her words drifted as she came upon fonder moments, even though to him they might have seemed far-fetched and boring. She didn't care. She said them anyways.

"We'd talk together, tell each other secrets we'd never tell anyone, _ever_...we always looked after one another and—well, you did a better job at that than I ever did, but…"

_And then there was a night sky, fairly lit by the waning of the moon… The faint smell of Rin being attacked by a hooded man... A dog putting himself between them, snarling at the enemy... _

The image was gone as fast as it had appeared. Sesshoumaru's eyes wondered, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"We'd celebrate each other's birthdays," Rin continued, "and we'd make fun of Inuyasha whenever Kagome was angry at him." She laughed at the last one, letting the sheets fall to her sides, exposing her warmer, more comfortable self to him. Sesshomaru remembered that laugh.

_The faint laughter of a girl, combing the silk fur of her companion, who answered by purring back…_

Images of memories came back to him, and it was only time until he could remember them all.

_The familiar smell, their laugh, her tears…_

…_And the heavenly feeling of that _combing…

Sesshoumaru raked a claw through his own mane. She hadn't been a burden to him; never. And thinking about it, she wasn't one now...

Blinking, he tried to rid himself of the thought. He couldn't afford to have thoughts like that in his mind, to affiliate with these humans, not when he had to go back to proclaim what was rightfully his.

Rin was still looking at him from the bed, her smile from his memories appearing in front of his eyes. It was so young, so innocent and pure—and it needed to be protected from the world's corruption.

Then he remembered that he really wasn't going to go back—that he had decided to stay. But for how long? He hadn't decided on that. And where? Until when would he roam the earth for something that would make him feel not so… "alone"? The word made him suffer as if his own brother's blood were flowing in his veins; and the sudden recognition of what it must have been like being raised inside two opposing, discriminating worlds grew within him, and for the first time he noticed how horrible he must have treated his brother in the past—because although he was half human, he was _still half inu— _and now the second half that remained of their kin, and the only one with whom he could indulge in his nostalgic recollections of a past life together.

Then there was this girl in front of him who was so unsettling that he just wished she was gone already from his sight, to be one less thing to worry about uselessly. But then one of those unfamiliar voices in him said that that wasn't the real reason to this discomfort he felt, but that getting attached to this feeling towards her was what would hurt in the long run when it was left behind.

…He hoped Inuyasha was feeling as miserable as he was all this time. _As_ miserable and _as_ aching as he.

…But then that would mean that _Thee _Sesshoumaru would be feeling just as Inuyasha did, and in a contradicting standoff that wouldn't be acceptable either. The halfling was _still _a bastard child. With no manners. And a bad mouth. Walking barefoot. And…

…_Hurt? _Sesshoumaru would feel hurt when he left this…_feeling_…that troubled him inside now? Towards…Rin and the other lowlifes…?

The lord got up from the floor and turned to the door, taking one last look at the girl who'd saved him from death. According to Myoga (who was very, very, _very_ wise as to not show his pesky mug where it wasn't wanted for days now), dogs without owners were killed when caught; so he, in a way, owed his life to the humans, as pathetic as it sounded. Not like he had to repay them back; not like he still was tied to them.

But he hated having to owe someone something, mainly because he'd never owed anyone anything. And the thought of being in debt to this girl wasn't sickening; no. He didn't like using that word anymore. Instead it was eerie. But it was the only coherent motive that was strong enough to be considered as a reason for him to stay.

Not like he wanted to. Of _course_ he didn't _want_ to. _Alright…So now that _that's_ decided…?_

He looked to the floor. Right now he didn't know what he actually wanted, so he would have to stick around until he knew what it was he wanted. A good reason enough to stay indeed. Not an excuse, but a reason. And if no one liked it, than to hell with them. This Sesshomaru did as he pleased.

"Good night, Lord Sesshomaru." The lord looked up to find Rin's otherwise very annoying smile directed to his self, lit up with that unexplainable charisma that most likely fed off of thousands of midnight fireflies. Strange the connection he made to that. It must have been her person and her love for miniscule things. Nevertheless, he had nothing to give her back for that sweet smile—unless she'd enjoy seeing him whilst in the mood for the kill, which was always quite entertaining…He smirked. Yes…_entertaining._ That is—unless you were the victim. Then it would just be chilling.

He smirked just a bit at the thought too. Now _that_ was a look to die for. The thought of the trembling of the weak in his presence always put him in a good mood and took his mind off of things. It reminded him of his power, even if it lasted only some time ago.

"Hn."

The door opened and he stepped out, not looking back. That was his last word before leaving Rin behind to try and make out what had just happened. She blinked.

_Boy _was heweird. And that quirk of the mouth he had just done…she tried and mirrored it. Those smiles of his were rare, so she would take that one as a good sign. Things would turn out or the better, it seemed.

_Rin liked weird._

-----------------------------

The young girl woke up with a startled jump from her bed. Something felt…odd. Looking out the window, Rin saw the moon high above the buildings, before it was obscured behind the clouds. She looked at her clock. It was midnight. Grunting, she slipped on her bunny slippers and made her way toward the kitchen for a glass of water, continuously rubbing her temples. Boy, did she feel weak! She must have fallen asleep on her bed without eating dinner. She'd _definitely_ have a quarrel with Kagome in the morning for making her miss out on a good helping of food like that.

But in turning on the kitchen lights and opening the fridge, the sudden feeling that she was being watched clicked, and her eyes darted towards the wall where she swore she saw what looked to be the eyes of a predator in the dark, glowing with some unseen light, black slits narrowed in between pools of golden dust, lurking and feeling her over as if ready to pounce. She instantly froze at the sight, hair standing on end from the coldness they brought and from the chill they seemed to generate on her whimsy, far-fetched mind. The owner of said eyes apparently realized what it was that was making her so disturbed, and soon a youkai lord walked out of the depths of the dark from his place near the glass window. A second after the moon came out from behind the clouds and she noticed once again the restlessness attached to those familiar hues.

Rin stood there gasping if not panting of fear, until she realized that she had nothing to fear from him. Well, at least not yet. The terror he'd made her feel with that just one look transformed into longing for company and acceptance. Heck, if he wanted to keep looking at her like that forever, she wouldn't care; just as long as he stayed. And the sudden recognition that she was still hungry and that he might as well be licking his lips because of the fact that he hadn't eaten in like, forever, made her shake off her stunned form and blink at him, purposely awaiting some sort of answer.

He seemed to take the hint and after a moment opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again once his train of thought had decided to stay that way; in his head. Then the girl knew why she had woken so abruptly; she had a mission, something to do, even if it meant risking her life in doing it. But since it was for her dear Fluffy's sake, nothing was impossible to go through.

Sesshomaru watched as Rin left his gaze without another word, which confused him to what she could have been thinking—other than the fact that he had just been a second from drooling on the floor out of hunger—and as to why she had not spoken to him—which was also very perplexing, since she always had something to say; she talked a lot. He looked on as she took things from the cupboards, the drawers, and the fridge, accommodating them all on a flat surface and taking out one big pan, turning on the heat of the stove to begin to fry something, it seemed.

She lastly took out a big bag of meat from the freezer which, to him, seemed quite tasty at the moment—youkais and fleas and humans not available on the menu as of late—and stared as she put the insides of it on a plate, using the monster of heat known as the microwave to thaw them. Quirking a brow as to what the hell she was doing since, according to Kagome, she didn't know how to cook (_and_ it was way past her bedtime), he heard the bleak sound of the timer going off and saw the meat then placed to sizzle in the pan. By that time his feet had unconsciously walked over to her side, and he was now in the same room as her, looking down at the slab of parts from a cow-corpse.

Rin, deciding to clear a few things to him, looked up, catching his stoic attention. She smiled, winking at him. "I'm making you steak, alright? I know you must be terribly hungry, no matter how much you try to deny or hide it. So just sit back, relax, and it'll be done in no time." She finished by accenting her usual cheeriness as if he were a stubborn child, learning how to eat his vegetables.

The daiyoukai took a few moments to digest this new predicament and, opening his mouth to speak, finally said what he had wanted to say minutes ago. "I told you I do not need your assistance." Rin's sudden _eat-or-I'll-_make_-you_ expression sent poisonous darts at him and he solely lifted a brow, standing his ground, trying to convince her that he didn't need anyone's sympathy. But he couldn't even convince himself of that. He needed food, _now._

"Listen, _Sesshomaru,"_ she said, honorific titles aside, "you _will_ eat this and you won't give me _any_ trouble about it, _you here?"_ Her command was impressive, even more so when she poked him on his chest for each syllable spoken. Now, it was one thing to chide Sesshomaru, and a whole other to touch him without his consent. But that wasn't the matter at hand; he'd delight the girl with his list of do's and don'ts later. Right now, food was at stake here.

So he barely changed his demeanor as he went to pick up a piece of meat with his thumb and pointer finger claws as if holding something vile and hoisted it next to them in the air, taking a faint, visible sniff at it, observing it for a slight second, his reply to her coming as nothing short of a surprised relief.

"This Sesshoumaru does not take from another's hunt. Second hand meals are dishonoring. I can provide for myself quite well."

"It's called 'frozen food', _Lord_ Sesshoumaru," she pouted, hands on hips. He didn't move, merely glanced at her direction.

"_True meals,"_ he said, and Rin found his charm rather enjoyable to say the least, "_are eaten raw, blood still fresh, warm and thick." _She gulped.

---------------

The night was proving to be a long one Rin thought as she yawned, waking up for the second time before dawn in her chambers. In her dreams crystal broke loose, scattering all over the floors. The thought that she had given Sesshomaru a meal and left him alone with it brought her to her feet, scrambling towards the door and out into the kitchen, where she found the demon lord currently pondering something as he looked intently at the floor which graced hundreds of tiny shards.

She took a sharp intake of breath. "You broke the glass, Lord Sesshomaru!" she raced to his side as he looked up to her, then realizing she had come into the room. Rin immediately took the hand that was now dripping slight crimson drops on the floor, feeling guilty for having given him a glass of water along with his steak instead of a more plastic one.

Sesshomaru stared at her as she took him close to a drawer, baffled about so many things. The food; the glass cup; the bleeding this frail object had caused; it was all too confusing. But of all things, that was the one that stood out the most.

_Why was he bleeding so easily?_

The lord sensed more than saw as the woman in front of him took out some white wrappings from a cupboard, along with some meticulous items apparently used for healing. His thoughts of her and his hand were cloudy and all he could think about was his blood on his claws, which she began to clean away so gently with a cloth in her one hand, the other holding his own hand upright in her palm.

He blinked once, still trying to make out the scene before him: a human girl was _healing him._ There were so many wrong things said in sentences lately that he could only stand still as she continued her actions, then taking out some tiny, metal sticks to pick out the remaining glass shards in his hand.

He hadn't even felt them there. In fact, they were of no consequence to him, since nothing of humanity could harm him; but that glass he had broken when trying to get a drink and his now wounded hand said otherwise.

What was happening? He knew he had felt…strange…since their awakening, but something just didn't seem right. Something was out of balance here. He and Inuyasha were…._different_. He hated this predicament because there was no way of knowing_ why_ they were different until it was too late. _Nothing _was going his way.

Rin finished by wetting the soft, pale skin some, and reached out for a ball of cotton, pouring a disinfectant over it to use on Sesshomaru. "This will sting a little, but it will help," she told him gently, and her more intellectual voice took him back into reality.

As she proceeded to dab the now wet cotton in her hand over the small scrapes, his claws flinched at the pressure of her movement. But not because it hurt—he hadn't felt a thing, really, and needed this 'help' even less than he needed another mother after him, since he would have healed himself in a matter of seconds if she hadn't come in when she did and began rummaging through things and inking him with such vile potions; but because he had let her touch his hand, bring him over to a corner, dab him with strange remedies and furthermore he had yet to pull his same hand away.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry!" Rin cried softly, thinking she'd hurt him. Quickly but carefully she closed in the space that separated the two's extremities and put her lips into a small 'o', blowing softly at his open scars.

And for some reason Sesshomaru felt his temperature rise slightly from the hand-up, his mind going to things foreign and those forgotten, things unsaid and those undone and unfinished. But none could compare to this place and time right now, and he forced his own lips to say something, anything even similar to what he needed to ask at that moment before actually doing _it,_ actually giving in to what was needed to be done but not wanted to happen, and hoping for the first time that after he'd asked what needed to be known and after having followed through with what needed to be done he wouldn't find himself regretting having gone through with it all. There was no turning back.

Why do it, then? Because he needed to stretch his legs. He needed to taste the sweet air outside, needed to breath in calming skies. He not only wanted to get out of here, but he also felt like he wanted to stay; though that last thought seemed more fleeting to him than it was palpable. So he would say _it_ for the sake of putting everyone to rest, including himself, and he would let the words rebound off the jewel's protective walls towards freedom.

"_What _were_ you to me?"_

Silence; then, Rin's lips twitched. _Is that what's been bugging him all along?_

The question was out of the blue and confusing, and all Rin could do was look up into his angelic face and eyes, his eyes which were so golden, even in the dark, and so alluring and captivating that their owner must have had to keep hidden from preying suitors. _Oh how she wanted to be the one to hold them as her own! _But he was still so unreadable, so _unreachable,_ and she didn't know what to answer him after she realized that he had wanted a reply.

But Sesshomaru just stared at her and her eyes, those chocolate hues that could say so much just by looking at them, and there needn't be use of words to describe what she thought of.

_Their eyes where _so_ different…_

And then he thought of how free and giddy and full of life she was, and how she always did silly and preposterous things, and how it made his being and daily doings not seem so monotonous anymore, because she filled everything with noise. Sweet, young noise. She resembled life as he didn't know it to be: wondrous and adventurous. And when she looked at him like she was now, so wanting, so concerned, so worried, the years caught up to her body, and she stood as a woman with sad wrinkles that, in his heart somewhere, Sesshoumaru had known one time how they had come to erode her face—but now it was something he couldn't place, as hard as he tried to remember, if only to know how to smooth the scars they left behind.

But leaving past relationships aside, what needed to be done had all but come to pass; so he took his hand back calmly and made way to her room before his legs were to turn against him. Rin followed suit after standing in the same spot baffled for sometime after.

Once she had gone into the dark hallway, however, and looked into her sanctuary which was lit by lights that had been left turned on, she found her lord staring down at her bed as solemn as ever. What he could be thinking of, she still would never know.

And then that sharp intake of breath again—this time, by him—was heard and Rin watched how the beautiful man reached over to his shoulder with his left claw, letting his fingers run through the tender boa, stroking it with a lost touch while his eyes continued to drown in the snowy sheets on the bed in a faraway manner. Then, as if a command had been whispered before the two, he brought both claws to it and carefully lifted the pelt from his form, bringing it to lie on the mattress ceremoniously. Then the two marvelous swords that he carried, the only ones of their kind followed. Sesshoumaru stared at each one silently in his hands, the blue-hilted one perhaps longer than the red, but didn't dare to unsheathe them, even if it meant for one last time, like one would be afraid to say goodbye to something dear to them. Both weapons were laid beside the first object with care.

Rin blinked, following the trajectory of his hands as they continued to run over his armor and sash and bindings, and soon they too were off, one symbolic piece of him after the other disrobing. It hurt to see him so lifeless—or better said, the lifelessness in his eyes—as the slow unwrapping of the colorful sash took place, his thin fingers twisting and turning to unfasten it from his waist. It flowed as it was let down next to the fur. When it was time for the armor to come off, he untied the thick, red string that held his metal plates together, setting the hard skin next to the previous items with a soft _clank _as they brushed against each other.

He looked so naked now without all those brilliant shells to hide him from the world; and he looked so sad… Only the markings of his clan and family crest adorned his body; and nothing was left to say but what was logical—though devastating—to proclaim.

"I have no need for these now."

The words within the words screamed to her that he had no need for the weapons and the armor, the honorary symbols of his heritage and life now, not anymore, because they would be of no use to him here, where no one knew him or would even care to believe in a myth and legend, and because what was worth keeping now wasn't found in them.

Rin held back a choke but let her face frown with unimaginable distress and heartfelt sorrow. And when he looked up at her, as lifeless as a stoic man could ever bare to show, a stray smile automatically graced her lips, and she found worthless words to say to him back, hoping against reality that they could repair what he would never again regain, finding out why she was so angry with herself in the first place.

"_I'm sorry."_

----------------------------------

Inuyasha's ear flickered from the tenseness, and he found himself looking down at the sword crossed against his chest, the Tetsusaiga that was once the cause of many spars he and his brother had taken part of; the same fang of steel that had defended those that he loved for so long. And now…now he too had no use for it. So if his brother in the next room could do _it,_ could be as strong as to let his own swords and armor and family heirloom go, he too could let go of his past. After all, he'd decided on that already. But he had yet to take action on it.

Willing his feet to make him stand up from the ground (not trusting his heart to move for himself) he got up, Tetsusaiga in right hand, and walked the few steps over to Kagome's bed. She would always get mad at him for being inside her room at night whenever she caught him red handed, but that didn't interfere with him wanting to come in and stay around for a while every time he did. He knew his youkai sibling did the same with his own human, and sooner than later he began to come to understand that Sesshomaru was a lot more complicated than he originally thought. What reasons he had to do whatever he did as of late, he'd rather not try and decipher them, because he had his own reasoning to think of why he did the things he did every night himself.

And since the world outside didn't have use of combat strength anymore and warrior knowledge were far and extinct, he should also have to trade in his haori, a gift from his deceased father whom he never knew, just as Sesshomaru traded his own clothing and fur to the forgotten Japan, and leave them there in the past as they should stay, along with dead mothers and priestesses…

Seeing that his sword of the fang was no longer coveted by his half-brother (and hadn't been for some time before the curse, though why he wasn't quite sure) and neither was it allowed in public, he had to bare keeping it here in the confines of this house, to dust away in a shelf somewhere and deteriorate from lack of use. It hurt to think about it, but if he didn't do it, he could never protect his own human in the outside world and would be refrained from protecting the Jewel too—not like the latter was more important than the first. _And it was still unsatisfying how he could have come up with the decision of staying here with the copy, and then think about being_ there_, with the original, and then not wanting to be anywhere at all._

So he trusted his will again to move his arms and hand to a nearby shelf on the wall and placed his sheathed blade on it, but his wanting was more than he first could perceive and he found himself moving to the corner of the room again, sliding down the length of the wall, eyes not looking away from the miko in the faint darkness as he crossed his legs.

Then Inuyasha closed his eyes slowly and tiredly—for they weighed more tonight than on any other—arranging his sword in front of him as before. Unnoticed to him Kagome, who had peeked open an eye, saw how the light of the moon crept past a corner of the window and made his mane glow with a strangeness she'd never seen before. It was hurtful.

And the hanyou's ear drooped to rest while his head did the same, hoping that time would fly just as fast as it did when he was in his cursed sleep.

Tetsusaiga…

He told himself that keeping it close for one more night wouldn't hurt.

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…_And as the long night found its end and the sun replaced the moon as it always did, Kagome's heart pained in her chest, and the mortals and youkais awoke to a shuttering scream..._

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Read and Review, please. 


	17. Virgin Run through the Mall

Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own 'em. Not one bit. Nada. Zip. That also includes any Brand names in this chap.

Again, I bow down to my reviewer's greatness! They fill me with happy thoughts. _Weee!_

P.S.: I'm curious…why did a lot of you think that Rin was in trouble at the end of the last chap? Um…

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**Chapter 16: Virgin Run through the Mall**

It was half-passed noon, and Inuyasha had been pacing across the living room floors for more than an hour now, thinking to himself more than he could care for. For one thing: why was _he _here, getting carpet rash, while the women thought it be polite to lock themselves in Kagome's room for hours and hours while they did kami-knows-what, leaving the boys alone as usual, together, somewhere else. It was disgusting to be in the same room as Sesshoumaru, even more so when he didn't know for how long they'd have to stay that way. All the girls had said to them upon waking was "We're getting ready", and the next thing anyone knew, heightened smells sprouted from their rooms like mad and noisy contraptions began turning on and off from time to time; which brought on the second predicament of that day: the hanyou had been fighting a sneeze like hell.

But since the girls could be trusted, Inuyasha brushed confused speculations aside and centered his thoughts—for once—on the other topic, the primary puzzle.

The barrier had finally come down.

_Yeah; the pink bastard has been defeated! But how? By who?_ All he knew is that Kagome awoke with a cry close to morning, and a familiar ball of pink light—_damn that color_—seemed to emit from everywhere, not only just her body (from where he had seen, being in her room asleep) but from the air itself—and like demonic witchcraft, _poof!—_no barrier. Not that the hanyou could really care much on _why_ it happened, why _now,_ taking its kami-forsaken good time to deactivate, but there was nothing else he could do while waiting for the women to finish their "business", so he agonized in wait.

And no. Having the barrier down didn't give the boys the freedom they thought they would have. Why? Because who knew what awaited them out that front door, if "apartments" weren't the only things that rose as high as the clouds, and walls were made out of the awful texture known as cement, the floors like seas of shampooed thread and windows that were made of material both thick and transparent?What unearthly creatures could make vast rivers as dry as earth and as black as smoke, un-living monsters known as cars serving as pack beasts, traveling on them, while horrible things called "airplanes" made humans fly? And how could they risk breathing the outside air, when the stars themselves seemed to hide from the sky at night, and bars of steel and electrical light fixtures illuminated the streets without burning on contact? And that was just what the two feudal males learned from speeches held by the girls in attempts to make them come to grasp the changes five hundred years can make— they could only imagine _what_ _else_ lied behind their boxed home.

So_ no._ It was proper if they waited to escort Kagome and Rin out like any gentleman of any era would do, before going out on their own. And, just for measure, both siblings had re-dressed for battle to take on the day's adventure. _Their swords would come along just this once, too._

So now that Inuyasha knew he wasn't afraid of leaving by himself, _just wise enough _not_ to_, he paced around the house, waiting for those unreadable women to come out of their rooms to give them a piece of their minds about not making breakfast. He'd been promised eggs.

_They have to have a _damn_ good reason for making us wait like this,_ the hanyou growled, taking a look at his brother from the corner of his eye as he passed him by. Something told him that the other youkai could have had something to do with the broken spell, but he didn't receive a reply upon asking, so he let it slip for the time being.

Sesshoumaru had positioned himself facing the hall, where he could have first view of the women, whenever they decided to come out and greet their unwanted, demonic guests. And for the hundredth time now, Inuyasha passed in front of him, eyes still glued to the floor in a miserable wait.

…_And left again, _the lord secretly sighed.

_Now, he is going right…and left, again. Right…left…Right…Left… A stop. Thank Kami he finally—right. He is moving right again. Now left. Right. Left. Right…_

The full youkai knew he was going senile. He had already tried counting carpet threads—until Inuyasha began his pace, and he his predatory watch on the hanyou's movements that went from one corner of his eye sight to the other, giving him a good exercise. But whenever he wasn't counting colored sheep fur or tired of seeing red half-breed, he reflected upon his night's decision.

Apparently his theory had proven correct. The jewel understood he was not a foe anymore, that he wasn't a threat to anyone within it's premises and so had taken down the half-month long barrier, leaving them to roam as free as nature intended. Now, the priestess was left with an inactivated, less of a pain-in-the-ass crystal in her chest, as it were once upon a time. But until when it would stay that way, no one could say. And now; waiting seemed more excruciating now than it ever had been in his whole life, so Sesshoumaru found a way to have a little…_fun,_ in his boredom.

"Half breed."

The hanyou snapped out of his thoughts upon the nick name, turning to his older sibling once he got in front of him in mid-pace. He noticed they were starting to speak more as of late; and although it wasn't always of the good kind, it was…well…interesting, to say the least, and soon it would grow. "What?"

The lord looked down at him in the inch or so difference of their height. He brought his eyelids down slowly to close, taking his time for the dramatic effect he always liked using. "Do try and stand still. I cannot hear myself think with your boney feet scraping the floors consistently."

"Whatever," the young man harrumphed. "Like thinking of only yourself isn't tiring enough," he teased back. Beginning his pacing again, he minded the dirty looks his brother must have been giving him under closed pupils. "So; what do you think they're doing in there, anyways?"

One more sniff at the air and Sesshoumaru thought he'd have to choke. "Pampering."

"Oh." Inuyasha was afraid of that.

Minutes later when the gibberish going on inside Kago me's room ceased and all was quiet, a pair of Daiyoukai eyes opened to look from across the hall to see what had taken place, while an extra pair of dog eyes peeked out from the hall's corner. The door creaked silently open, and what happened next, or how it was even humanly possible to have had occurred, baffled the men for time to come.

At first, the world seemed to turn pure, joyously white; next, time slowed to a halt, and there only existed the two most angelical creatures anyone could have ever witnessed alive. All former smells seemed to drown behind wonderful aromas, like blossoms and waterfalls mixed with a hint of alcohol that swarmed into their nostrils to be inhaled deliciously. Then, it was as if the air itself caught inside their lungs, when female beauty as they knew it came flowing down the hallway on thin, radiant legs that glided as if on ice, their eyes widening unconsciously to invite the glamorous beings in from down-up. Later, the men would only compare this feeling as something taken from an Herbal Essences™ commercial, because the only thing left to complete such similarity would be to have the girls saying _"Yes, yes,"_ with that certain euphoric tone that males loved in their voices, and them having the initiative to seize them away in arms.

Kagome had stepped out in tight, dark jeans with a nice, white tank top that emphasized her female attributes, Rin following with the warmest, most feminine knee-high pink dress any feudal man had ever seen, her legs as sheen as silk. It only took a second more to notice that_ they_ were the aroma, all of them, and that they were too a part of heavenly attraction than the boys had given them credit for.

Kikyo, _eat your heart out. _

Kagura…_well, no relation. _The lord could just cringe from past thoughts of one of Naraku's female accomplices, who'd wonder around him every now and then with apparent liking to his person. The devil.

Both had their long, ravenous dark hair let down, and it swayed as they walked, an invisible wind catching them in a dance. _They were goddesses_. But what bedazzled the boy's vision most of all were their faces, which had evolved into even higher splendor, their painted eyes seeming to call out to them as sirens with each bat of their thick, eye lashes, seeking to overcome their hearts with their intense, smooth cheekbones, and entrancing them with the hot, humid sheen of their red lips. One more instant and Sesshoumaru would have had the same gawking, open mouth as Inuyasha. Thankfully, Kagome spoke first before any of that happened, ending the dreamy moment the boys had experienced.

"Why are you guys looking at us that way for?"

"What? Do we look bad?" Rin worried, turning around in a circle, checking herself. Kagome shook her head, surprised at such foul words coming from her mouth.

"What? Of course not! We look _hot!_ Not that a couple of _rugged men_ would know anything about," she crossed her arms. Inuyasha, still opened-mouthed, lifted an incredulous finger at them, mumbling incoherent words as he tried to make out what was going on—not that it wasn't unwelcome. It was then that Rin laughed (which came out as more of an attractive giggle to the spectators, for some reason) folding her arms behind her head, a foot arched backward with that certain stance that could drive any hungry man out of his mind—not that there was one in the room.

"We have make-up on, silly!"

If possible, the hanyou's eyes grew even wider, his finger drooping in speechlessness, and Sesshoumaru quirked a brow to try and hide his amazement. Perhaps all the commotion was from being cooped up for too long in a box and going half-mad from it that they were seeing and feeling things never before imagined, but if modern day potions could create such divine princesses, they knew there was so much more to look forward to.

"Oh, come on! We haven't got all day!" Kagome yanked Inuyasha's sleeve and directed him out the front door, heading towards the elevator. "I haven't left this place for weeks, and I'm _dying_ to get some fresh air!" Rin smiled at her lord and urged him to follow suit into the hall, closing their apartment behind him.

When the elevator doors finally opened with a bell at their floor, the girls stepped in. "Come on, Lord Sesshoumaru; don't be afraid. It's just an _elevator."_ the girl said cheerily, as if it could bite.

The youkai eyed the contraption eerily, giving an unexpected answer to her bizarre indication. "Those who fear respect what they fear and I, Sesshoumaru, do not respect this monster." Kagome rolled her eyes as he finally entered.

"Come on: you too, Inuyasha." She looked at the hanoyu's hand, which was holding on to the hilt of his sword, and looked up at his ears, which were folded back, as if their owner were ready to snarl and attack something. _"This is going to be one of those days, Rin," _she sighed, shaking her head. The doors of the elevator started to close and by pure instinct—and the memory of being alone—the hanyou sprinted to get inside, making the girls jump and causing a small frenzy in the claustrophobic space that ended in a touch of all the floor buttons.

---------------------------------

"Ah! Clean, fresh air at last!" Kagome clapped her hands together in joy, breathing in a big gulp of oxygen on the side walk once in daylight; Inuyasha, beside her, began coughing after doing the same when a gasoline truck passed by.

"You call this air? What _is _this stuff!" As the smoke that had accumulated during a red light cleared up, the group was greeted by the mid-day sunshine and the wake of a modern city filled with engines, bike wheels, concrete, pavement, smog, animals on leashes, and foreign commerce and peoples, all contributing to the frantic, buzzing movement that lacked a regular village half a century ago. It was a completely dull sight, if you were to ask any human of the twenty-first century. But these humans in particular had a pair of dog demons with them, so you'd know this would be no ordinary day. And all it took to know that was a hideous ten-minute trip in an elevator down forty flights, five rounds with the swinging doors out the apartment building, a run-in with a bell hop, and two cigarette buds dying on the flowerbed soon after. And, of course, the men would never forget the sound of a jet passing through, nor will their captain forget the near-death experience as a swing from the tetsusaiga nearly cut it in half with its blast.

The floor wouldn't forget the two-inch impression of a hanyou face in it, either.

After that the use of swords had been doubly forbidden. If they had a choice in it at all, the girls could have tried to convince the guys to leave them behind, but something about that didn't seem to leave them at ease.

"This stuff," Kagome came to answer, "is going to be your life for now on. Now come on, we haven't got all day to gawk at the scenery. We can do that the rest of forever when we're stuck with you guys."

"What! I'm not gawking!" At Inuyasha's reproach, the demon lord closed his mouth shut, then sensing it had unconsciously gone down on its own. "And what do you mean, 'the rest of forever'!"

"Oh, just come on!" Kagome yanked on his left sleeve and started down the street, not wanting to get into another heated conversation on how she had no clue how to get the jewel to bring them back, and that she'd most probably be having enough over-dose of testosterone under her roof to make do for any normal girl's entire life. "I'm willing to do anything just as long as we do it outside of the house, for once."

Rin awed, still standing in the same spot. "But I liked it at home. We made breakthrough in there," she commented honestly. And before she could start on her speech, the meow of a feline close by drew her attention to more important things, like the fact that thus creature was on a high branch of an enclosed tree nearby, and it seemed stuck. Sesshoumaru was already eyeing the thing from his spot under it as the kitten hissed and clawed out at him, hiding even deeper inside the thick branches. Soon it would be unable to get out, if it continued like that, she measured—and of course, Rin had to save it.

"Oh no! The poor kitty's trapped! We have to save him, lord Sesshoumaru!" she gasped, hands on her mouth in surprise, working out on one of her bachelor's degrees. Indeed she was drawn into the situation at hand, though not nearly as much because of the stray, but because of the multiple growth possibilities it held for the two's fragile relationship.

Said lord kept his watch over the lost pet unmoved by her plea. "It is a cat," he stated, both stating its maturity and as if it were nothing more of importance. _So, they have lost their demonic aura as well, _he analyzed in thought. Truly he and Inuyasha could be the only demonic-like beings in existence now._ Hm…_

"Well, we still can't just leave him up there," Rin continued, trying to get him to show his softer side. "What if he can't get down! _I bet some one misses him. _Is he alright? _Can you see if he's alright?"_ the girl panicked.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru realized all-too-late, the choice of walking up to inspect this 'new world cat' was not a very good idea. It had made Rin jumpy, and worse than that, he saw himself ending up as his mortal enemy's savior from certain death from a nine-foot drop. "It is a _she_," he merely corrected, already taking his swift leave to be left unbothered.

"Sessh! _Please_ save him! You just gotta! You just _gotta!"_ Rin kept on. "Oh…I just hope he isn't scared!" She cupped her hands around her mouth and spoke to the feline. "Don't worry kitty! We're coming! We're going to save you, so don't worry!"

"'_We',_ as in leaving it be and continuing our path, am I correct?"

The girl looked into the golden hues of the apparent cat-hater when he had looked to her in his response. "Awe…But Sessh, you just have to save him! Please? For me? Can't you see that he's_ in trouble?"_ The cat meowed again and pawed at air, and somehow the dog thought that it was his duty making hairballs like it go up trees, not bring them down.

"We are wasting time. We must follow—"

"Oh my gosh! It looks like it's starting to rain! What if it can't get down in time! What if it gets _wet!"_

_Then I hope it _floods _out,_ the demon growled as he was loosing his patience—until the unexpected came. He looked down at Rin again, and on her perfectly-shaped and colored face, there were the two biggest, most watered eyes he'd ever seen, being battered in an innocent manner, as her lower lip quivered in sorrow, and her hand knitted together in prayer. It took one second of that and the century-old youkai was brought to his knees in guilt.

Damn it.

And before he could change his guilt-ridden mind, one clean cut from his poison whip and half the upper part of the tree slid to the right slowly, until falling on its side. The cat sprung out from its hiding place just as the branches hit the floor, making a scene for the spectators passing by. "May we take our leave now?" he asked bluntly, the green whip already disintegrating.

Rin quickly agreed, caught in awe. "Run!" She darted after where Kagome and Inuyasha had went to avoid trouble, her skirt flaring behind. Sesshoumaru watched it go up and down in her sprint, thinking that if it were any higher, she'd be disclosing her vulnerability to the outside world, and he'd have to kill anyone that had a peak. But luckily, the fools had nothing to see, so he followed far behind in a casual manner. Too bad the next thing he smelled of interest was already being inspected by his younger sibling, having Kagome tapping her foot next to him, cross-armed.

"Inuyasha, _people are looking!_ It's embarrassing!" Rin began giggling when she'd caught up with them.

"Oh come on, Kagome. He's just sniffing at a fire hydrant. That's normal."

"Normal? Normal! Rin, he's two feet taller than when he used to do that and knows how to use the toilet seat now!" She brought her voice low. "_Well, given he almost never puts the top down_, but still! Inuyasha, stop smelling other dog's pee." The hanyou's ears worked their way left and right, and all around in curiosity, as the man crouched on all fours continued to investigate the wonder. "Inuyasha! If you don't get up right now I'm going to have to 'sit' you."

_Thud!_

"Oops. Too late," Rin put a finger to her lip.

Kagome sighed in even bigger embarrassment (and little guilt), then began her still unbelievably long trudge to their destination, calling to her back, "Sesshoumaru, drag him over." The dog demon first looked at the beast twice over, and thought he'd rather still be helping that cat.

Ahead of them, Kagome whispered into her friend's ear. "Why did you think it was such a good idea to bring them along in their feudal clothes anyways, Rin? Everywhere we go people can't stop staring, apart from the fact that they are _by themselves_ an embarrassment." It was an awful thing to say, and yet still held true.

"Oh, you'll see," the other smiled.

And upon arriving to their stop half an hour later, and after more questions and bother from the men, Rin exclaimed in a sing-song voice, _"Tada!" _waving her arms in the air for emphasis. _"_Welcome to the greatest place on earth, guys!"

The boys, now either more bruised or humiliated then when they first set foot on over-populated human grounds, looked up at the gigantic, adorned, glass, front doors of the immense structure in front of them, thinking it really didn't look as fun as Rin said it was. "Where are we now?" Inuyasha was a little too scared to ask. Kagome's eyes lit up with the brightest, most dazzling light he'd ever seen in them, and he had to take a step back in case it was contagious.

"_The mall!" _She had finally made it. Kami.

"We couldn't bring you here before since, well, pets weren't allowed," Rin commented, as if she cleared any doubt in their mind as to what this place was. Her finger pointed toward a sign on a door that had a dog's picture crossed out by a red, diagonal line. "In fact, if they find out you two are dogs, they'll probably kick you out!" Kagome's moment was shattered, and she slapped her forehead from the stupidity of the occasion.

"_Who's_ gonna throw us out?" Inuyasha believed.

"The cops." It took a while to sink in.

"Who in heck calls themselves 'cops'?" he blinked.

"Enough!" This time Kagome took Rin by the arm and like thunder after a lightning rod, both women disappeared through the doors. After a while of fighting over who dared go in after them first, Inuyasha was pushed inside. And if the outside of it was glamorous and breathtaking, the inside was doubly as freighting, they quickly took notice.

"Come on, lord Sesshoumaru. Don't be afraid." Rin circled her right arm over his left and continued walking beside the other two. Sesshoumaru took a second to look down at the their proximity and almost said something about the girl's daring move, but saw her too engulfed with the mall's euphoria that he decided to snake his limb back later when she wasn't looking.

All day she had been acting like none of yesterday happened, and he didn't know if to take that as a blessing or not. Nonetheless, he hoped she wouldn't bring up with _anyone, _not even _him, _how she'd seen him at his most vulnerable state. It was one of those moments he didn't want to be reminded of.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha's head did 360's as things lit up all around him, gadgets moved about in the air and objects were escorted by humans on the floor. "What's all that?"

Kagome looked around the ceiling to where he was pointing. "Those are the mall's decorations. Every mall has a theme, Inuyasha." Diminutive airplanes and hot air balloons floated near every corner or sign, little paragliding men in between.

"Oh," he nodded. "And what are those?" he pointed next.

"Inuyasha," Kagome hushed, "stop pointing out at things like that, especially at people. It's not nice. And those are baby carriages; you know, like what we talked about at home."

"Oh," he answered. "And those—"

"Wheelchairs, remember?"

"And—"

"Plastic bags to carry the shopping in."

"And—"

"A _dress,_ Inuyasha," she finally grunted. "You know, like the ones you see whenever you _go through my closet_ _without permission?"_ Inuyasha chuckled nervously. "And just who _are_ all these people," she turned to ask Rin, referring to many dressed-up shoppers in strange uniforms holding awkward weapons or dolls in either hand.

"They're the Otakus, Kags. Remember that convention I had told you about some time ago? Well, today's it," Rin smiled. Just then a big, bald, six-foot teen towered over them, looking down from his red-shot pupils and scarred face-marks. He growled, making Kagome jump into Inuyasha's arms.

"They're freaks!"

"They're anime fans," Rin corrected.

"So you thought bringing these two along like this would help them blend in at the mall!"

"What else could we bring them in?" Rin was right. The girls lacked of men clothing, let alone something that was in men's sizes.

"Oh look, Kagome; a mime!" At Rin's change of topic, the three looked to her side at Sesshoumaru, who was currently exchanging looks with a white-faced man in black and white gear, with matching hat and gloves. The performer waved at the youkai cheerily then goofed around to make him smile. But seeing nothing worked, he made a sad face as if crying, and brought his hands to his heart. "Oh, you made him sad, Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin sighed.

The mime nodded heartfelt, then came up with a brighter idea, showing so by a hand gesture. Curling up into a ball, he began panicking silently, his hands making to break open an invisible box that imprisoned him imaginatively. Gasping for air desperately, the mime quickened his moves. Kagome applauded at his effort, laughing along with Rin. Inuyasha just scratched his hair; by then Sesshoumaru just narrowed his eyes.

Still scheming to make the lord break his stoic attitude, the mime stood up and pouted, hands on his hips, as if angry for not being appraised. His object of attention then closed the distance between the two, and the mime smiled exaggeratingly, happy to receive some sort of attention.

"You _mock_ this Sesshoumaru?" The performer made to laugh, grabbing a hold of his belly.

"Um, Rin, maybe we should go," Kagome suggested, already stepping away from them.

"No, wait—things just got interesting," Inuyasha smiled entertained, watching green emanate from his brother's claws. The performer made a curious face and went to take a closer look at it.

"Sesshoumaru—no! Bad, bad dog!" Kagome's comment earned her a look from all three men, and she forced her and Inuyasha out to make Rin follow, who would then make the youkai come with.

And after a minimum scar burn on the mime's sleeve and glove, they did.

--------------------------------------------

Seventy-three and a half questions later, and a not-so-quick pass through the food court with hotdogs, chilidogs, pizza, and just what _was_ Chinese food made of inquiries, they came to one of the mall's ends, and up to the end of Kagome's rope. She tried her best to hide her frustration, but the seething between her teeth just couldn't be disguised.

"Inuyasha, I _know _you're curious and all about everything, but please, please, _please _stop asking so many questions! It's getting annoying!"

"But—"

"Enough!" She stomped her foot down. "I. Want. To go. Shopping!"

"_Sir!"_ The group looked over at a man in blue uniform jogging over to where they were, and it gave Sesshoumaru the break he needed to finally take his arm back from Rin. Kagome started to worry that they'd been caught with something, and out of the hundreds of things that they could be caught with the main being walking around with a grown man wearing what looked to be like pink eye shadow, the other having a desperate need for plucked over-grown eyebrows.

The man with the badge stopped in front of Inuyasha, catching his breath after the jog, his belly bouncing a little more than it was supposed to. "You can't walk barefoot in the mall, even if it is part of your costume. You must wear shoes." Kagome withstood herself from slapping her forehead again. Out of all the things…

"I'm sorry, officer," she broke in, "but he's not from around here and as you can see—"

"Wearing something for the convention doesn't excuse anyone from having to wear shoes. Now please find some to put on, or I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Just who is this guy?" Inuyasha whispered into Rin's ear.

"He's the cop I was telling you about."

The hanyou harrumphed. "Seems scrawny to me. I can take him on, no problem."

"Excuse me, sir?" The officer overheard the conversation, butting in between the two a little too close for comfort. "Do you have a problem with law enforcement, sir?"

Kagome's hands flew to cover Inuyasha's mouth before he could say anything else as stupid, and laughed nervously at the officer. "You must excuse him, he's… He's got samurai-up-atitus; he thinks he can…uh…he thinks he's a samurai from hundreds of years ago." She closed the space between them and added dramatically, "Sad, really. You see; this really isn't a costume," she reasoned, ending in a whisper. "It's his loony wardrobe."

The uniformed man blinked and looked at Inuyasha painfully. "Oh…I see…Well then, I hope he gets better and miss, please make sure he finds some footwear." He turned and winked at the hanyou. "Even samurai need sandals from time to time," he told him as if it would help out the recovery. Leaving the gang, Inuyasha muffled something like, _"Get your dirty hands off my mouth,"_ but no one could be truly sure.

"Alright. So now we have to get you shoes, Inuyasha, like it or not. And Rin; you and—hey. Where'd Sesshoumaru go?" _This just keeps getting better and better,_  
Kagome sighed. But before anything else could be said, Rin had volunteered to go and find him by herself, not like she'd object. She didn't want to even deal with him right now, and knew Rin could handle it just fine.

"Alright, Inuyasha. Let's get you some shoes," she repeated, and with a grunt and a snort from the man who'd never worn soles in his entire dog-life, she headed towards the nearest shoe store.

…And before she knew it, she had lost him aswell.

Grumbling, the young woman stood in the middle of the bustling crowd in one of the halls, turning around in circles on the same spot, trying to catch even a glimpse of red or silver. After searching for him inside what she thought to be suspicious stores and hangouts for an…intellectual…like Inuyasha, and only achieving to find a mayor headache, she was about to go so far as call him from security when she saw him nosing around a mannequin from the outer side of a window of the last place she'd thought she'd find him at—although it could have been the first place she could have looked for him. After all, it's where Sango always found her man whenever he got "lost" in the mall.

And then…then he went _inside._ _Damn it_, she half-whined, half-growled, her foot stomp earning unwanted attention to herself. Taking a shaky intake of breath, she valiantly followed as if nothing was wrong, trying to mind the very awkward situation she was going to forcefully haul herself into.

As she made her way to his side she received curious and rude glances from customers and workers. She didn't blame them. "Inuyasha—what are you doing?" Her voice tried to be as nonjudgmental as possible, although it clearly showed signs of uneasiness. The hanyou in question didn't look away from the article of interest. Instead, he further indulged the mystery, and held his chin on his fisted hand in fascination.

"Are you _sure_ this isn't armor? 'Cause to me, it sorta looks like it. I believe you hide things from me," he stated, looking to her in a distrusting, unfriendly manner. With a sudden acknowledgement that she had a finger tick and an increase at the shade of peachy red on her cheeks, Kagome tried to hold back a cry.

On one side, she couldn't chide him for being so blunt, but on the other she'd wished he'd asked her that sometime, and somewhere else before. In fact—he had done so, but apparently she hadn't been clear enough about her answer. The last of many times he'd asked that same question came to her instantly.

"_Inuyasha!" _The recall started just like any other memory…_ "Sit!" _

_Kagome had planted her hands on her hips furiously upon entering her room, just as Inuyasha began eating carpet. He answered back when he was able to lift his head and fist up at her._

"_Argh! Why do you keep _doing_ that!"_

"_Because I've told you to stop snooping around in my drawers enough times already!"_

_Jumping to his feet, he stepped closer to the other body. "Well, If you don't want me in there _that_ bad, then there's _gotta_ be something your hiding from me in there, right! You can't hide anything from me! I 'm going to find out what it is your hiding, and you can't stop me, you hear!"_

_Kagome drew herself so near to him, that her expression-less façade was enough to scare, and perhaps rival that of his older sibling's. And her lips—they moved so slow, that he could read what she was going to say before he could even hear it—and that's saying much, seeing he was a dog._

"_Sit." Plain and simple, the master always reminded the subject who was boss. _

_Falling again, this time creating a twin mold to accompany the first, Inuyasha's ear twitched as Kagome explained less violently this time around, "Sesshoumaru got the hint after Rin told him to stop going through her stuff, why don't you?"_

_The hanyou grumbled muffled curses, planting one palm after another hard on the floor, lifting his upper body enough to be able to look at the futuristic priestess in the eyes. Learning constantly (but never learning _from_) that screaming back at Kagome would be suicide, he matched her almost-calm voice for an excuse. "Hey; at least I do it when you're _awake_—but what you_ don't_ see is him going through her stuff when you're both asleep—ack!" Kagome watched Inuyasha go down for the third time since, but on this occasion, he clutched onto his pained forehead, a demon lord appearing at the room's entrance from the corner of her eye._

_Kagome came to terms that ludicrous like this was just something to expect, and was less and less surprised the more it was done. By now, the girl could swear it was getting boring and, more importantly, irritating from the obvious immaturity._

"_Sesshoumaru—as much as I appreciate your help," she commented sarcastically, "may I _please_ ask you to stop. Smashing. My. Antiques!" The demon in question didn't bother to look to her, merely walked away with a second, costly figurine in his claws, which was just seconds to becoming another dart to practice on the hanyou's face to silence his tongue. _

_Afterward, Rin had poked her head out from her room, inquiring as to why her lord looked so upset, as if she could tell the difference._

"What still makes you think this is battle armor, Inuyasha?" Kagome slid the words as fluently as she could out of her mouth.

"Well," he started, as if he was catching on to some marvelous finding for once, "you and Rin wear it all the time, and have loads of them in your drawers. I mean, for mikos I guess you have to stash away hundreds of these for your battles, right?"

Not that he wouldn't have had come to the conclusion on his own of how many times she wore her belongings, Kagome had to ask anyways. "…How do you know we wear them _all_ the time, Inuyasha?" His name was said with a graver tone of voice.

"Because I can smell it on you, _duh_," he shrugged, crossing his arms in front of his chest, as if it were obvious enough, especially knowing what genes he held.

_Ew, _Kagome immediately thought for the umpteenth time when reminded that her scent was being scrutinized twenty-four-seven. _Its so pervert-y…_ Suddenly the tick in her finger seemed to be spreading to the others on her hand, and she broke loose.

"For the last time, I am _not_ a miko! And neither is Rin," the poor girl responded, adding in an undertone, _"of all people…"_ Stopping and scratching her head to find some sort of support, she continued, "and no, that's not battle armor. Not. Even. Close. So stop asking, 'cause I already told you what they were!" The couple hadn't noticed they were attracting a bigger crowd each growing minute.

"But...but Rin was wearing a purple one that day when we were doing a handstand and you guard it as if _gold,"_ he blinked, almost innocently.

Shifting her weight from her left foot to the other, feeling a familiar throb acting away in her eyebrow, Kagome spoke between clenched teeth, _"and you never stopped going in my drawer,_ did you!" If the brothers had seen so much of this in their house before, and still didn't get it, then any embarrassing feeling the girls had felt before was nothing compared to the one they would feel upon clearing this mess up.

"Inuyasha; your in the woman's department—or, more importantly, what you'd call the 'undergarment' section of this _female _store. This isn't, or will _ever _be, armor. This is a…er," the words had formed clear up in her head, but somehow they fought to get out. "It's something women use for, um, _support;_ nothing like armor, although it still serves like one, in a way," her eyes looked to the ceiling, just having connected the similarity between the two subjects. "Right now you're looking at Victory's Secret's™ plunge and push-up bras."

At mid-sentence Inuyasha's pupils had shrunk to an unhealthy size, and his claw had finally loosened its death grip on the B cup he had been holding and sniffing at for the past minute, using it as evidence for his accusation. The knowledge that he had inspected Kagome's personal—yet flattering—intimate pieces for days back at home, and that he had made a scene at the store from it made him both gulp and burn red with embarrassment, his nose twitching involuntarily, as if for another whiff. They did smell nice, after all…

"But…but...are you _sure?"_ he still asked, this time more out of confusion and not wanting it to be true. As old as he was, he wasn't one to be holding such things. They were icky.

"_Give me that,"_ Kagome snatched the bra away, positioning it in front of her for a demonstration. "Learn this right—for it will be our first and_ last_ instruction." Being used to teach him about futuristic things, the girl was less uneasy as she drew the piece closer to her middle body for a more hands-on, literal F.Y.I. moment.

"This," she said firmly, "is placed like so." With a curt nod that showed his discomfort with the awkward, revealing lesson, Kagome got to the point.

"And this," she prepared, "is what it basically does." Her hands jerked upward, insinuating the object's use, and Inuyasha made a gesture similar to an "o" with his lips, done in slow motion.

"_So,"_ he said, mouth not changing position. "I've just humiliated ourselves to the point where we won't be coming back in here again, right?"

Crowd still watching with growing infatuation to the unrolling of events, Kagome felt Rin really did have the right dog after all.

--------------------------------------

Once the sneakers were bought a little while after, Kagome thought it would be nice if they took a seat to rest for a while near a fountain. "Wow," she exhaled. "This has been a long day, and still I haven't bought something for me. Ironic," she laughed. Inuyasha, beside her, played with his new soles.

"Are you sure they're supposed to be comfortable? 'Cause they're not," he whined.

"They'll just take some getting used to, Inuyasha. You can take them off when we get home, so try not to complain anymore until then, okay?" She lay back on the bench, thinking to take a quick shut eye.

"Whatever," he huffed, feeling sorry for himself more than she was. It hurt having no one on your side. "So now what?"

"Don't know. Can't you sniff out Rin or your brother so we can meet up with them?"

"Sesshoumaru's my _half_ brother," he corrected grudgingly.

"Right," she moaned, already knowing that but not wanting to get into the details. "Just…find them, please?"

Making a face, the hanyou set out to sniff for their traces, when unknowingly to Kagome it meant standing on the bench and flaring his nostrils in the air. Luckily, she didn't notice that or the few looks they caught. But it didn't take long for Inuyasha to growl when he smelled something that he didn't like. Jumping off the bench, he made a fist. "Let's go."

"What?" Kagome was still half-dozed.

"Come on; we have to go. Sesshoumaru's causing trouble," he said, clenching his fangs. That brought Kagome wide-awake.

"Oh no," she worried, quickly standing up. "Where are they?" she looked around.

Inuyasha pointed to their left. "Over there, but we have to get there quickly; we won't get there in time if we just run."

"What? How far are they? And _what's going on_," she continued to ask, now frightened.

"Just…here," Inuyasha told her, crutching down close to the floor, his hands behind his back. "I'll carry you—we'll get there faster."

"What? You, carry…me?" She thought it would be an unpleasant ride, if he indeed could carry them both as fast as he said he could.

"What are you waiting for, wench? Just get on!" Knowing Rin and hundreds of other shoppers could be in danger, she had to suck it all in and find her courage deep within, climbing onto his back awkwardly at first, then finding a comfortable position she could trust herself with.

…Until he grabbed her bottom and slid his hands down to her thighs. Then she just shrieked.

"Hang on tight," he warned, taking the first big jumps he had done ever since before the curse. It felt both liberating and exciting, and he roared delighted over the gasps of bystanders; but after the first few leaps, he began coming unbalanced, almost falling over with Kagome in which he tripped and leaned to the side.

"What do you think you're doing!" she yelled at him, making to get off. Being on Piggy-back wasn't something she was accustomed to doing, and his hands grabbing onto her legs was certainly out of the question, even if it _was _meant for security purposes.

"It ain't me, so stop you're yapping and let me do this already!" Bending over to untie his shoes, he threw them to the side against the girl's complaints about their price, and then hugged her underside again to start over. He smirked when Kagome shrieked again at the touch. "Those things were holding me down," he explained, and without further waning, he made his true leap.

"Help me!" Kagome cried as the two flew across halls and over people's baffled heads. She didn't dare open her eyes, and the ride seemed to take forever as she prayed she'd come out of it alive. Her hair went wild and tangled with his mane, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck to feel safer than she knew she really was. Inuyasha wouldn't be one to let her fall or bring her harm; but she just couldn't stand the feeling of having nothing under her feet, and air pushed against her front. Every time the two came down for another boost, she inwardly grunted at the slight pain, being silent after realizing that screaming was only annoying the beast.

When the hanyou finally made a stop, Kagome more than gladly got off his back, not having to ask just where he was going to, since the immense crowd huddling into a circle seemed to be just the place she feared to arrive to. Making her way through the bustle after Inuyasha, who wailed like a maniac to let him pass, "if they knew what was good for them", the girl's breath held back in an inhale, knowing she'd have to cover up for this craziness with some sort of a miracle.

In one, quick scan of the situation, she happened to make out that Rin shied behind the tall, proud shoulders of a very familiar (and stressful) lord, who stood not too many feet away from a youth clad in cheap, plastic plates, resembling that of old armor. He currently held his make-shift weapon, a sword of some sort, pointed toward Sesshoumaru, moving it in narrow circler actions, as he stared at him with what seemed like a pathetic-looking menacing glare. "That's right; hide behind your ugly boyfriend; it's not like he scares me," the boy laughed, his friends joining in with puns and crude, female insinuations. Rin clutched onto her lord's silk tighter, her eyes confused and unwilling to fight back at the offender.

Sesshoumaru felt more than saw her draw even further back into him, and without a second thought, he looked back at the ill-mannered man who, according to his band, was named Snake. "As your last warning; if you are anything of the man you call yourself to be, you'll walk away quietly."

"...And you," a man behind Snake spoke up with a foreign accent, looking over the youkai's outfit, saying, "should pay more for that crap." The comment made the crowd 'ooh', as if daring the insult to be backed up by another, cheering on in their own way the tiny battle. "I bought mine on EBay™. Where'd you buy yours, or is it that your mommy made it, mamma's boy?" The whispers and lively gossip began to ascend, and the hanyou buried his face in his claw from the stupidity of the men these days.

"Yeah, momma's boy," his friends repeated, and Kagome mirrored the hanyou. Rin, for the first time since, stepped op next to the youkai, foot firmly on the ground, fist in the air.

"Look, you bunch of uncivilized bafoons," she began, making a few heads turn at her sudden increase in valor, and making Sesshoumaru lift up a brow in curiousness. "You jerks bumped into us first, remember? Until now you're the ones causing a commotion, so read my lips and back off! You don't know who you're dealing with!"

"Like hell I do," the kid said, taking down his sword. "But really, do you think I'd pass up on an opportunity as this, when I've happened to stumble across such a cute morsel?" The remark made her gag. "Come on, babe; you_ know_ you want me," he smirked smugly, his companions snickering in chorus. The girl retreated a few steps back, hugging herself as if she were naked right then and there, and red crossed her cheeks furiously.

There were no words for what that made the youkai feel; looking around him, no one made even the slightest indication of butting in to protect Rin—not even when there were so many other men around. It was like humanity had traded in their pride and manhood for a good show; these things did occur in his time, but according to the women's stories, barbarians had long been gone. So who were these pricks?

And then there was this fowl excuse for a man that directed himself towards Rin in such a manner, right in front of _him,_ another challenging male, that had he been alive half a century ago, in _his_ territory, he would have been left with no means to satisfy a woman--or anything that moved—ever again. The men's laughter made his stomach churn, and made him even more protective over his Rin because, it seemed, that everyone else was uneducated enough to let all this happen, and let her be treated that way. Or any female at all, for that manner. Even he in his worst hadn't gone after them; it was cowardly to confront those who were so defenseless.

"Someone in there, freak, or are you just trying to remember who you're superior is?" the man scoffed, tapping on his skull as he stared at the stoic demon, who more than likely scared him with only his look.

"I wouldn't blame Sesshoumaru if he really does kill him," Inuyasha told Kagome behind a hand, receiving a shocked expression in return. "What! Like_ I_ wouldn't?" he told her blankly, as if killing were a second nature to the two which, technically, it was, in a way.

Sesshoumaru looked at the couple form the corner of his eye, hearing them out but not really caring for what they had to say; he would do things his way, anyone like it or not.

Unsheathing his sword in the boldest manner for all to hear as metal brushed with case, the Daiyoukai looked to his companion's offender in a deadly glare that could have frightened even Rin; except, said girl saw him as her knight in shining armor, coming forth to protect her honor; so she stood her ground in awe, forgetting that this warrior was truly a demon, in all sense of the word.

Snake in front of them stepped back a little, but showed no hint of backing off. "Well; I have a nice and fancy sword too, ya know." Branding his own plastic stick, the kid waved it around in a fancy manner, showing off his techniques and skills at sword play, the ladies ooh-ing and awe-ing after each grunting noise he made for emphasis. Upon finishing his antics, the sword was let down, and a hand gesture invited the demon to do his own show. "Come on; show me whatcha got."

_Humph. He knows how to play with a sword,_ _I'll give him that much,_ thought the hanyou, scarcely amused.

"Inuyasha! Do something!" Kagome rattled him side to side. "Rin! _Rin!"_ she tried next, only to see the youkai's right hand lift dramatically above his head, the sword's blade shining from the sharp edge. Kagome yelped.

Snake's face suddenly flustered, not understanding the gimmick until it was too late. By then, all he could do was whimper as the blade came down upon his skull with one, rapid swing,Sesshoumaru's mane fluttering behind him from the speed. Kagome hid behind her hands, terrified at having to see blood spatter from the impact. _Things like that were only supposed to be in movies!_

"_Ack!"_

The crowd gasped in horror of the scene, the attacked man still standing, jaw dropped open, as still as a stone. Gruesome silence filled the air, and for once the mall felt dead. No one dared make a move, let alone speak. The mighty lord took the time to circle the blade to his side twice in a nonchalant manner, and then slid the weapon into its sheath. Rin, never moving from her spot behind him, made a peek hole through the fingers that had masked her face from such an act. What amazed her was that the guy had yet to fall. _Whoa…I'm glad he's on _our_ side,_ she gulped. The crowd was still in awe, speechless. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the silence.

"Oh, come on! It's not like he killed him or anything," he stated, walking passed his brother, not heeding Kagome's plea to stay away. Snake's buddies began shying back from him as Inuyasha approached the victim and blew into his face, the man falling back like a loose sheet of paper, fainting from the shock of having a sword just slice him in half like that. The crowd watched as his head hit the ground in unconsciousness, his feet rebounding back, rather comically.

"See?" Inuyasha began, turning towards Kagome. "It was just Tenseiga."

Mouth agape, the girl's mind processed the entirety of the situation; but the sound of half a dozen police whistles filled her ears, making her realize just what kind of problem they were going to be charged of. She warned to her companions. "Inuyasha, Rin, we have to get out of here!" As the cops shuffled between the bystanders to get passed and into the action, Kagome sprinted off in the opposite direction, the people in her way opening a spot for her to run through. Rin gasped, just catching on.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" she shot his way, and before she knew it, her handsome man had picked her up in his arms, carrying her away and over the people with a tall jump. Inuyasha, now alone, blinked in confusion at his fleeing group until the cops arrived.

"Hey, you over there! Are you responsible for all this!" cried a uniformed officer, pointing to him.

"Wait! It's that shoeless guy—and he's still not wearing any shoes!" cried a more familiar voice. Inuyasha, feeling drawn into a corner, quickly got on all fours and headed after Kagome, only stopping when he had caught up to her so she could climb onto his back. Soon the two were off and side by side with his brother and Rin.

"_What the hell was that all about!"_ Kagome accused, looking to Rin. Sesshoumaru and her own ride kept traveling at a steady pace as they sprung across the mall's floors, always looking in front, each scream or wow of the shoppers first heard loud and then faint when they were left far behind.

"Um…well, this guy began hitting on me," Rin said innocently, arms gripping her holder's neck. "And after I told him to stop, he just kept going and…well, Sessh stepped in. Then things got worse when everyone thought that Lord Sesshoumaru was just in costume."

"Well, at least we know that they were able to 'blend in'," Kagome said sarcastically.

"Sorry," the other frowned.

"Whatever. There's nothing we can do about it now," she sighed. Looking over her shoulder as they left behind stores and people she came to know very well, the frown on the younger woman's face mirrored on her own. "Looks like we're gonna have to say good-bye to this place forever now." Rin silently agreed half-heartedly, her head positioned so she too could see their beloved hang out for the last time.

"Hey, Kagome." At Inuyasha's voice, the girls faced forward. "We're do we head to now?"

Yes—where _would _they go? Thinking shortly, Kagome came up with the best possible solution to some of their problems.

---------------------------------------------

Not too long after, Miroku came out of his bedroom's bath with just his pants on, drying off his wet hair with a white towel. "I'm sorry, guys; I hadn't expected Kagome and Rin to have come, let alone bring company," he smiled joyfully at the two strange males standing in his room. Throwing the towel onto the bed to perfume his naked arms and neck, he took his deodorant next and applied it while addressing the brothers.

"Of course, you don't need to be quiet, fellows. We're all men, here; there's always something we can find in common to talk about." Rummaging through his drawer, he found a navy shirt to put on.

"We didn't come here for chit chat," Inuyasha bluntly pointed out. "Kagome said we needed to find a change of clothing, and so here we are. Nothing more." He was upset that the girls were mumbling things just in the next room with Sango, knowing all-too-well that it was about him and Sesshoumaru, though not able to decipher their conversation.

Poking his head out of the shirt's opening Miroku chuckled nervously, a little apprehensive at the attitude_. The girl's sure know how to pick 'em,_ he thought, believing the guys to be something more than just friends of theirs.

"Alright then," he cleared his throat. "Tell me what it is you want." The monk in training didn't question why they needed to borrow his belongings; he and his girlfriend trusted their neighbors too much not offer their assistance when they could. Besides; if the girls had wanted them to know the reasons, they would have told them already. It would just take time.

"What we want?" Inuyasha had crossed his arms in front of his chest, impatient at having to be alone with this stranger and his own brother. Of course, he could recognize him and Sango's scent, but their faces still seemed blurry to him. He reasoned that that could mean that he had known them as a mutt, but still had trouble actually remembering _them _as a person "I dunno," he shrugged, "anything; just as long as its clothes. What's the big deal?"

Miroku almost gasped, wondering just where such a comment could come from. "'What's the big deal'?" he echoed, walking over to one side of the room and opening the doors to his closet. "This, my friends," he smirked, "is a big deal."

The siblings were met with numerous colors, sizes and qualities of manly accessories and material; shirts, jeans, pants, formal and sporty wear hung in what seemed to be like hundreds of racks and hangers, almost a dozen shoes displayed neatly on the floor in rows. The girl's weren't kidding when they'd said that people (not exempting males) bathed more now than they did back then, and so had to have something new and clean after each wash.

"So? What do you think? Pick out anything you want," the host continued, waving a hand in the air as if bowing to a king. "And please be careful about making a mess," he scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Sango just cleaned in here." The hanyou nodded, taken aback from the liberty of trying on something new and less red. He searched the pieces one by one.

"So, the ladies had yet to tell me your names." The monk had been taking a shower when his guests had arrived, and Sango had only informed him two friends of Kagome and Rin needed to spend the night in town and hadn't come with luggage.

"I'm Inuyasha," the hanyou turned to shake his hand, as instructed by Kagome for a positive first-impression. Knowing his brother would be more reluctant to doing the same, he answered for him with a head tilt. "And this is Sesshoumaru. We're from out of town." Surely Kagome would be proud of his acting. He went back to his search.

"Sesshoumaru, eh? Well, nice to meet you, too," the monk stretched out his hand kindly, only to take it back after noticing this second man was less responsive than the first. So he tried for small talk. "So, where exactly do you come from?"

"Someplace far," Inuyasha automatically shot back.

"How far?"

"Far enough," the lord's voice rang, startling the young monk. Something told him that he should change subject, especially when the taller male stared into his eyes the way he did. It was somewhat freighting.

_And this is supposed to be Rin's boyfriend? Never would have guessed she had a thing for…uh, bad boys. _"You two look alike," he continued, a bit hesitant. "Are you related? One could say you even look like broth—"

"_Half_ brothers," the siblings cut in at the same time.

"O…kay…" Miroku quieted down, hoping Inuyasha would find something he liked sooner than later. After a while, he'd found some pants he was interested in.

"Ah, excellent choice!" Miroku exclaimed, taking the item. "These hold many fond memories for me, and I doubt they won't give you a taste of their luck," he winked, elbowing the hanyou sheepishly on the shoulder.

"…Huh?"

"Ah! I think I might have just the thing for you, too, my good man!" Miroku told Sesshoumaru, going though his closet, finding another pair of jeans. "Here. You can borrow these as well," he handed each piece to the respective brother, although the youkai was more reluctant to grab his.

"Now; go ahead and try them on," he smiled, urging them to be less stiff. Inuyasha looked at his pair one more time, until he set it aside to unfasten his obi and get to his hitoe, then kosode, and later to his hakama, seeing it would be easier to dress himself that way. Sesshoumaru, eyeing him, still a little apprehensive at having to put on anything else that wasn't of his family, later unfastened the tie around his waist, his boa and armor along with his and Inuyasha's swords left behind at the girl's apartment. They had been forced to leave those behind on their trip back.

-------------------------------------

"_So they're not really your boyfriends?"_ Sango asked downheartedly in the living room, hoping that, for once, Rin had found a man and that Kagome had decided on one. Her cat, Kilala, sat in her lap, nuzzling to her master's stroke.

Rin sighed along with her. "No, sadly."

Kagome raised a brow at her phrase. "Anyways, thanks again for letting us come in on you guys like this, Sango."

"No problem," she noted.

"They're just friends of ours, coming for a visit, and only came with the clothes on their backs," Kagome tried to lie in the most believable, cheery voice. She even used her fakest smile she reserved for more important occasions.

"Of course, Kagome; you needn't say another thing about it. Any friend of yours and Rin are friends of ours too.

"Yes—well, we had gone to the mall to get stuff for them but…let's just say it didn't go well," she sweated, thinking that going back to another mall without their feudal belongings on would go better around the second time, although by how things looked, they might as well try online shopping…

"And are you sure they're alright? I mean, what was so terrible that they had to leave their hometown in such a hurry?"

"Issues," Rin jumped in. Kagome mentally gave her points for the comment.

"Don't ask why, though; they've gone through some tough times and barely even say a thing to us two," the older girl lied. "Not to mention they don't have any family to go to, so we're practically all they have left. We couldn't just say no to them coming over. We thought it would do them good to stay a while; you know—take their minds off of things. You understand, right?"

Sango, arm obscuring her now sobbing face, nodded. "Of course. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, Kagome. And no offense—this coming from you—that you'd actually let someone stay in your home when you're such a neat-freak." At this she received a complaint, but she kept on. "You're a kind friend, Kagome."

Biting her lower lip, the girl shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know me, eh heh heh," she scratched her head. "I'm all down when it comes to helping the needy, eh heh heh…"

"By the way," Rin spoke up, "we're sorry about not contacting you both before and coming here like this without warning. We've been…away all this time, helping them with their…uh…situation." True; that morning their answering machine had miraculously begun to work again, and they had dozens of messages waiting, most from their neighbors, a few from work and home, and the rest from Kagome's suitors. Those were hardest to explain to Inuyasha, who'd started acting jealous.

"That's alright," Sango dried a tear from her eye with her finger, smiling. "We were just worried that we hadn't heard of you for over two weeks; we thought something could've happened to you two! Thank kami you're alright. Even so, Kilala began acting…strangely whenever walking pass your front door, Kagome." The cat purred.

Said woman just kept chuckling nervously, forgetting about the animal's instincts. Good thing they hadn't been able to open their door to find out something they weren't ready to explain.

Unexpectedly, the couple's bedroom door snapped open, revealing a very frantic boyfriend. "Kagome! _Rin!"_ he cried in a high pitch, looking around for them with shocked and confused eyes. Kagome immediately stood up, afraid of the worst. If the guys had ruined their only escape goat, she'd…

"Kagome, Rin! You guys failed to tell me something about these two," his voice changed to his usual tone. Behind him, the boys stepped out the door in their regular styles.

"What's wrong, Miroku?" Rin addressed him.

"You...they…they're…uh" he was ironically out of breath from that short sprint.

"Oh, um…did I forget to tell you that they're of a different race?" Kagome tried to clear up any awaiting accusations.

"_They're going commando_, that's what!"

"…Comando?" Sango and Rin repeated, a shade of red crossing the actor's cheeks. The boys, unknowingly, just waited for someone to explain.

"Oh, that…eh heh heh," Kagome blushed, forgetting to mention that small part. She was embarrassed that Miroku had to find out that their guys were nude under their clothing the wrong way. She figured he either didn't like other men dressing up in his things without something to cover up underneath, or that he'd seen…other parts of them that he wasn't accustomed to.

"Well, um, I can explain…"

------------------------------

Note: according to wikipedia, _kosode_ is Inuyasha's shirt, _hitoe_ his jacket, _obi_ his belt, and hakama his pants.

Nice, long chap after an update-slacking. Thanks to _Sakurascent _for her original 'bra' idea, although I believe I think I stretched it too much, among other things… (If anyone would be so kind to critic the chapter's length and/or content, _please_ be my guest. Like perhaps it should have been divided into two chaps instead of one? And did it get too out of character, or too whacky? Too much nonsense? Anything?)

And a shout out to _Murdoca,_ for her reminders to update (sweat drop) and to all who continue to read the fic. I'm dying to move on in the story. And as a preview for the next update, let's just say new characters shall make an appearance…

: D Hugs and luvs from Sugarsweet. Review?


	18. Time that Goes on

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Fiddlestix.

Thanks to all who read the story and/or review it. I am surprised by some of them, and very happy for the people who have written to me over time. This chapter is for all who enjoy the fic. Thank you lots, and hugs to all.

**Note: **Translations for unfamiliar dialogues in this chapter are at the end. Do not take a peak at them before or during the reading, or else they might spoil the scene's effect. : D

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 17: Time that Goes on**

It was a cool, silent morning inside the apartment when Kagome decided to sit down at the kitchen table to write. She stared at the pencil and paper in front of her, knowing that the week's Youkai Journal entry was do. In it she secretly kept track of the brother's growth in society and learning, as well as what new discoveries she had found about the youkai extinction, and Shikon Jewel. The day of the brother's first visit to the mall seemed far away, a notion supported by the number of used pages her second, thick book contained. The first book had been used up eight months ago.

The girl put her yellow pencil to her lips, gnawing at the red eraser, as if it helped the right words come to mind. The entry would serve as a last summary before beginning a third volume, so it had to be good.

"_Days came and went like seasons, healing wounds that were embedded in the skin, when the mind could not erase the memory..."_ She stopped writing and grunted, close to erasing the line. _Nope. Stay practical, _she reminded herself. _Almost sounds like Rin. On her good days, I mean… _Kagome regained momentum.

"_Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru grew in ways unexpected, having to build a new name for themselves in this concrete and electric city. They became accustomed to the fast paste and hectic routine with little trouble; the noise was what really bothered them. The loudness of the traffic; the sound of high heels on sidewalks; the dings, clanks and rings of gadgets, knobs and buttons…"_

Taking on the job of watching over two demons had been no easy task. Deciding where they would live was the easy part; it was evident the boys could never be left to live somewhere other than under the watchful eyes of her and Rin, the only two who knew of their truth. In that way they also decreased the possibilities of destruction to a minimum.

"_There was no denying their new surroundings and reality, but there was a recurring resistance to accept their inhumanity as a part of such advanced, mortal species. Deep down, the males believed that they would never fit in. As much as they could understand and mingle with a technological society, the demons would acknowledge the truth; they did not belong here, and so could not feel like they would._

"…_At first." _The sound of rustling sheets broke Kagome's concentration, making her lift her gaze up from the paper and over to the couch's pull-out bed. She stared at air until it calmed. Then she looked down again, feeling that she could continue.

"_In time the impurity of the brothers was tainted with humankind, and they became just another face in the crowd. The youkai part of them was always there, though restrained. They still had uses for their otherworldly powers, but they were never a necessity. It was devastating, seeing they did not have the freedom of being their absolute selves. Hunting and exercising eased the unused joints of the body, but I know their muscles still yearned for…"_

Kagome stopped at this, not sure as to what demons did exactly in their free time. How they would exercise could mean… "Yearned for the thrill of the kill?" She half-gulped as she finished the idea aloud. She wrote it down, adding a few last sentences as a side-thought.

"_But For Rin and me, they will forever be our once-dogs, now companions of another lifetime, who…_

"Who could never be replaced," she finished, noting how life for the four roommates had become more complicated after the day the Shikon Jewel had reacted in the transformation, but also more fulfilling.

Kagome sat back on the chair, thinking about the text in front of her. "'Fulfilling'? Okay; so sometimes. Occasionally. _Hardly_. Uh…almost never? Nah; it's been fun. Er…Well—maybe I should reflect on the choice of words…"

As she contemplated on it, the girl stood to begin making breakfast. She had already eaten, so the food would not be for her. She even thought making eggs was an elementary dish that wasted her talent and skills in cooking. At other times it would have bothered her to make it, but this occasion was different. It was the weekend—one of the few that Kagome had free of Masters' classes. Rin was out catching up on her acting rehearsals and auditions, Sesshoumaru probably somewhere near by.

The history graduate loved the quiet in the atmosphere; it was only then that she could stop to drink a cup of coffee, sit down on a comfortable chair, and lean back while taking a deep breath from the week's pressure of papers due and heavy investigations. She did not complain about the immense amount of reading she had to do, but at times she wished she could use the Jewel to stop time with it and leisure at her will.

The young woman cracked a couple of shells, stirred the insides into a bowl, and fried them in low heat. To her right, the clock ticked away the seconds; and as the big hand passed over the minutes, she swore she could have heard its click resound from a distance. There was nothing else going on in the room, or noise to distract her from her thoughts. Before the dogs had come into their lives, the girls were fine with the solitude in their sanctuary (having Rin act out every now and then was assumed); but now that all of it had been disturbed and their lives turned up-side down, she came to expect noisy, annoying, male presence. And that was before the demonic transformation. After, it was doubly apparent that Heaven would no longer reign in a house with such levels of testosterone.

At the moment Kagome was alone, and it made her notice how silent her house truly was. Her shoulders fell as she heaved an inner sigh.

There was no Rin running about, doing handstands or working on another play; there was no Daiyoukai to tinge the air with his stoic look and silent treatment; there was no hanyou of hers to brag or whine or get on her nerves with that scratchy voice of his.

She almost blushed at the emerging vision it brought to mind.

_No._ There was just Inuyasha, sleeping on the fold-out bed of the sofa, sprawled under sheets that left half his body naked to the coldness of the air conditioning. _That's right_, she told herself in all certainty, continuing to work on the food; _no one's going to bother you while you make your toast or stir the batter._ Inuyasha could gulf down three pancakes in two mouthfuls, she remembered. _Yup. No one to dip their claws into my mix or steal the sausages before they're cooked. Nope. Not one._

However, it was unsettling the way the room stood still; the echo of the hands of the clock as they past one number after another and the sizzling on the pan added to its queerness. Then something, somewhere in the house, beeped.

Kagome came to grasp that in the strangest of moments she wanted to hear the raggedy squeal of a bad-humored pup, the stomping of his feet, and the worry-less attitude that made things alright. Before she had met him, she had wanted her world to be not-too-big and not-too-small, but just right; and, surprisingly, the notion still stood, if not firmer than before. Her unexpected company had become pleasurable companionship.

A loud yawn resounded in the room, making the girl jump. She turned off the stove having finished the meal and walked into the living room, where Inuyasha still laid sound asleep, unaware of the hour that it was. It was close to noon.

The young woman's eyes fell on a thick firefighter suit thrown on the ground close to the front door, which meant a week of dirty clothing for heavy washing. She dragged it and a handbag of the same color to the closet. When she came back Kagome searched for any stray socks, picking them up and holding on to them in hand. She stopped next to the sofa to watch the young man in his sleep as she straightened them outside in. He looked comical the way his mouth opened agape to breathe. His chest rose and fell in a steady pace, indicating lack of exhaustion from duty; otherwise, he would most likely be curled up in a fetal position, adorned with an almost uncharacteristic, peaceful expression.

The girl followed the length of his bare arms, which stopped at either end of the mattress bed, soft, curves of muscle more than evident on his tanned skin. She saw how his strong legs elongated out from under the sheets, the look of his abdomen causing a familiar sensation to grow inside the pit of her stomach. A part of her felt it wrong to watch him like this; but her knowledge of his guarding over her at night made her shrug. He would still creak open her bedroom door whenever he got home from each round to make sure she was there and well; that would never change.

_If he does it, so can I, _she rebutted,as if it cooled her cheeks any more looking away from him could. The fact that he would take the time to do such a thing when he should be too tired to even bathe (which she gladly saw that he did before jumping into clean bedding) added to the reasons why she adored his caring side. Even if he _was_ half-demon, he was still half-human.

And, like humans, a hanyou needed his sleep.

It was why Kagome was unwilling to wake him; but Inuyasha consistently reminded her he'd rather accompany her on outings than stay home alone. Kagome had many plans to accomplish that day before dark, so she could not wait any longer for him.

A hand reached out to his shoulder hesitantly to give it a nudge…

**---------------------------**

Hours after, a very awake and growling hanyou tried to remind himself just why he liked following Kagome around. Whenever she was left to do shopping, she returned more than just packed. She came _equipped._ The amount of baggage he was left to carry around the mall or from the car to their floor left him in an irritable mood. He could barely watch his footing from the amount of purchased items in his arms. The weight of it all, though minor for a super-being, was too much.

Once the door to their apartment was opened, Inuyasha was more than happy to let the bags fall to the floor, while receiving the habitual chiding from Kagome not to do just that. The girl had learned the hard way to carry the more fragile items in hand herself because of it. "Not even Sesshoumaru treated Ah-Un so badly", the hanyou mumbled, referring to his brother's two-headed dragon in comparing himself to a beast of burden.

Kagome never minded him, humming merrily as she walked to her room to tuck away new-bought perfume. Inuyasha's eyes closed in discontent from being ignored, but he just took off the baseball cap he had been wearing and threw it aside. It was one of many that he occasionally wore to hide his ears from public. They caught attention to himself more than his mane alone did, although not hiding them did not seem to mind anyone on the streets. Wearing nothing at all was, of course, far more comfortable, and his ears perked up in freedom of movement and fresh air.

Next, he scrambled for the containers of food they had purchased to open a box of ramen, stopping only when a familiar, sucking feeling began throbbing on his neck. He slapped the nuisance and looked down at his hand, the flattened image of an old flea stuck to his skin.

"Master Inuyasha—oh how you torment me so," the bug made out from his bent beak.

When Kagome came back, she took notice of his arrival. "Wise old Myoga; you should know better by now that it's impolite to snack on someone without their permission." At this the parasite popped back to his regular self, preparing for a bow.

"Then may I ask this kind, beautiful lady, if—"

"_No,"_ she interrupted, making him pout as his shoulders slouched in defeat. He commented on how hurtful it was to be aging in centuries, while no one took the time to understand him anymore.

"Why don't you go bug Sesshoumaru more often, huh?" Inuyasha flicked him off his hand and smirked as the flea fell into tears on the kitchen table.

"No love," he whimpered. Myoga's other lord would most likely kill him if even a drop of his blood was taken, not to mention if Rin were sucked in the lord's presence. If not for an open window, the pest would have been turned into flea dip the last time he tried it.

Myoga never felt appreciated and only seemed to cause trouble for his masters. For one thing, there was the whole curse-incident, whose blame had fallen on the inch-tall vermin. It wasn't that Kikyo had turned the men into canines and had left all useful conscience in the hands of a bug, no; Myoga's fault laid in the outcome of the use of his bit-sized brain.

Because of him, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru had been reverted to their human forms.

Naked.

In the presence of _women,_ nonetheless.

The inus had been seen as bare as they were brought into the world from the womb—as bare as they would never be _again;_ especially in front of the same females which had lent them their home to reside in. It was both embarrassing and humiliating—not that they were insecure about what they had to offer—but because they could have someone to blame their mutt-misery on, and with purpose.

Whenever the issue was brought up, Kagome and Rin kept silent, remembering how not-so unpleasant a view they had witnessed when it occurred. But Myoga; it caused him extreme complications to his post as a guardian and squeezed the life out of what he had left to live (which could be plenty).

Another chaotic moment for the flea occurred when the girls had talked about getting the dogs fixed. He had dreaded imagining what Kagome had wanted to say with "trip to the vet" and "doing humanity a favor". All he had needed to come to the right conclusion was Rin's comment on the so-called Miroku living just across from their apartment, who was a perverted, lecherous, womanizer. Back then, Myoga had found himself to be speechless for the first time in many, many years. Dumbfounded and eyes wide open, he had tried not to blurt out the words that haunted his brain, racked his male dignity, and managed to say soft enough so the girls wouldn't hear, _"Sweet mother of kami!"_ A shiver had run over his delicate limbs and froze him in his stance

If anything did come to happen, he would have been killed; and not just a threat from any inu, but a literal offense. Thankfully the girls hadn't gone through with their idea, which would have been as wrong as it was for rain to fall up, and enough to make his diseased lord roll around in his tomb (which would have been terrifying, since the boys' father would have had the capacity of causing a small earthquake, because of his powerful size). But the worst never happened; and when the brothers learned about it by mistake, Myoga had to go into hiding for two weeks from Inuyasha, a month from the older sibling. Even then Inuyasha forbade him lunch for time after, which was heartbreaking to the insect. Kirara, the neighbor's cat, turned into a second-hand buffet for a while as result—and cat blood never made him feel full.

Nevertheless, the flea's knowledge and effort on returning to the past and caring for the mutts was acknowledged and respected, just not expressed in gratitude. At least that was what the women continued to say to cheer him up.

"Quit teasing him, Inuyasha," Kagome chuckled. The hanyou feh'd and walked away, leaving the girl to tend to the bags on her own. "We have that dinner tonight, remember? You should take a bath while I finish this."

Over twenty feet away the hanyou cringed, stopping between strides, unpleasant memories catching up to him. Every month he, his brother, Kagome and Rin joined their neighbors Sango and Miroku for dinner. It had become one of those rituals that no one could remember just how it had taken place, and didn't matter, because it would not end anytime soon. It took place on the last Saturday of every month, at eight o'clock, on the highest floor of the most luxurious building in town, while sitting at the table of one of the most prestigious restaurants the country had to offer.

Not that Inuyasha disliked the tradition; there was just one particular, unwanted individual that never failed to make an appearance—and he was the most irritable nuisance that could have driven Inuyasha mad just by presence alone. Least to say, it had nothing to do with Sesshoumaru.

Regaining his steps, the half demon went to bathe as the girl averted her eyes to meet with Myoga's.

"You know; even though I know you don't have fault in anything, you could come out of hiding when Sesshoumaru is around, if you tried."

A miniscule digit opened the neck of his miniscule collar, as if to fight some rising heat from the pit of his stomach. "Lady Kagome," Myoga responded; "If I lived so dangerously, I wouldn't have reached the age I now possess." The quote from an old acquaintance of his made her smile, but with an ironic, sad nature. It reminded Kagome of loss and the mens' struggle to find a new meaning in life, a new reason to hope for.

"Hey, Kagome! Where's the soap!"

"If you need a new one, it's in the closet by the—" she stopped, remembering they had just bought a package of soap, because there weren't anymore left in the house. "I'll get it."

Going through the pile on the floor, she reached into some bags and grabbed a bar of soap, only to turn around and find the male behind her, now shirtless. Surprised and mildly flushed, she dropped the item in his open palm and watched him leave, thankful he at least had his pants on, rather than just the usual towel.

"Thanks."

"W-Welcome." Fanning herself nervously with her right hand, Kagome looked to Myoga to see if he had caught on to her heated moment. There was no doubt that he had, since he was already waving his eyebrows at her tauntingly. She threw a cheese puff at him and knocked him over.

-------------------------

When Kagome had finished getting ready for the night, she knocked on the third bedroom's door to see how the male was doing. Before, when the girls were alone in the apartment, it had been used mostly for storage. Now it was the space for the men's clothes and belongings. The bed was used by Inuyasha if he were to arrive home from work and find it empty; but in the event that Sesshoumaru had the room in his possession, usually for reading or filling out documents of his own line of duty, the hanyou would sleep out. The sofa was part of a set of furniture that was influenced by the Americanized-apartment building, which most residents kept since first they moved in.

"Inuyasha. You've been in there for hours!" the young woman exaggerated. "What can you possibly be doing?" She was startled by the sudden jerk of the door as it opened; but not as much as it did to see her roommate with black hair and dark eyes, distraught. She froze.

"I'm not going. I ain't gonna be anywhere near that freak." He stated his words clear and frank.

Kagome looked his face over before catching on to what he'd said. She would forget to keep track of the new moons that happened once a month, which was when Inuyasha's body transformed into that of a normal human's, a quality only seen in hanyous. The look in his eyes and the nature of his voice when in this form were so different, they became enticing—along with his more expressive demeanor. His claws and fangs would be gone and replacing them was a personality that every other day would have been hidden to the world under animalistic silver and gold. Whenever he turned into the part of him that was pure human, the boy was more subtle to showing a piece of him that he would otherwise forever intend to keep secret. He was also most vulnerable, then.

Kagome spoke. "You know we have to go and you never get away with not-going." The mysterious manner of his eyes and eyebrows from her reaction told her that he must have been expecting a yell or a fight.

"Well, why not? Why can't we avoid not going just this once?"

"Because…" She attempted to find a justified answer, but having to wait for one was making Inuyasha grow tedious.

"Whatever." He shook his hand in the air and addressed her with annoyance in his voice. "Just don't take me out of your sight, or leave me alone for even one second, _'kay?"_ The girl smiled to him, holding back a chuckle, which made the male growl low. She then nodded.

Inuyasha moaned and turned away from the door frame to go through his drawer, picking up a perfume bottle to spray on himself. He stuck out his tongue as he smelled it. Not having a sensible nose that night did not exclude him from not-liking heightened, alcoholic potions. It was the reason why he sparingly used it, and why the women wore it in low potent and quantity. Applying it in the presence of Kagome was a means of showing gratitude to the woman who had bought it for him. She said it smelled nice.

Turning around to show himself to her, he fixed the tie around his neck. "So; do I look good enough?" Kagome's smile widened and she walked to him with her arms in front, slowly untying the ornament. Her unexpected touch and the closeness of her face to his made the surface of Inuyasha's cheeks burn.

"You don't have to dress this formal," she cleared. Her fingers went to open the first button of his shirt, fanning the collar wide to leave him more exposed. Her touch then traced the beads of his Rosary necklace one by one, stopping at a cream bone. He looked good in it, she thought.

When the male moved in front of her she then noticed her dallying. She let go and took a step back. "Sorry." The young woman often got caught in the moment while showing Inuyasha how to act or present himself to the outside—even if he had had more than plenty of practice in doing it himself. It had grown to be something more of an obsession than a motherly touch.

"Uh…Thanks."

-----------------------------

It was still light outside as Kagome and Inuyasha made it to the restaurant. The floor they resided on held many walls of glass that looked upon the horizon; the setting sun and midnight city underneath served as a spectacle that adorned inside conversations. The couple who had arrived first, Sango and Miroku, had never been told of the brothers' true identities; Inuyasha's human form surprised them every once and a while, and it took them a while to adapt to it, believing it to be one of his culture's monthly rituals.

After a brief greeting, the four began choosing their plates.

Sango scanned the menu, her eyes running over foreign language as she spoke to no one in particular. "There was an article in the paper this morning, where Inuyasha was photographed saving a young girl," she smiled.

"Oh?" Miroku followed. "I saw him on the news."

Inuyasha gripped his menu tight and looked to the side. His friends never meant any harm, but they could not understand that he cared less about having appeared in the media. Even the time his face was plastered over a billboard was revolting. Saving lives in the feudal era was never on his to-do list, mainly because being hanyou meant neither youkais nor humans accepted you for who you were, no matter how hard you wanted to fit in. So he saw no use in wasting his time in helping anyone. Even as a motherless pup he received no compassion from adults, so there was no favor to return or treatment to thank, least of all be in constant medium demand for his services to humanity. Being praised just made humans seem hypocrite.

If firefighting kept him busy and paid for food and rent, that was enough to lay content.

"Inuyasha, you're working on another week-shift the day after tomorrow, right?" Kagome broke in.

"Yeah," he said almost half-heartedly, knowing the little time he saw of his companions because of shifts.

"Well; I have the weekend off, so if you want to, maybe we could go to the movies again or something?"

Having the "weekend off" meant she had studied overtime to be able to cram a moment with him in pleasurable company. "Going out," he had come to understand, replaced saying, "I need to see more of you because I've missed you". His heart churned in his chest.

"Sure. Whatever you want, Kagome."

With a clearing of his throat he looked down to read his booklet, scanning over big words and tempting titles. A far giggle to his back notified him that Rin and Sesshoumaru had arrived.

The energetic girl bowed and greeted everyone joyously, taking her seat before the youkai took his to her side. The table for six was finally complete.

"_Should I have the calamari this time, Miroku_?" Sango asked, leaning to Miroku's side, pointing to a page of the menu.

Kagome began interrogating her roommate. "Really; when's the day you're going to arrive early to these things, Rin?"

Miroku touched cheeks with his partner, playing with the ring on her wedding finger._ "Have the one with those Arabian symbols, honey," _he suggested.

Rin sighed. "As if I _like_ to be the last one at the table. The biscuits are always gone before I arrive!"

"…_How about that Brazilian, goat plate?"_

Kagome shook her head. Rin's auditions would take more of her time than actual rehearsals did, and she was involved in many works as a graduate, not to mention still taking classes in other concentrations of artistic manner.

"…_The turtle sauce with the Canadian duck?"_

Inuyasha grunted. "Just get _beef ragout _and _cheese soufflé_, like you usually do." He glared daggers at the overly-chatting couple sitting to his left. Dining at a place where they served around-the-globe banquets was bittersweet; usually more annoying than sweet.

"Touché." Miroku flapped a napkin and laid it on his lap.

Kagome closed her menu. "Don't mind _him,_ Miroku. He's just grumpy because of you-know-what." Inuyasha harrumphed, doing the same as the other man with his tablecloth.

"So, Rin; how'd it go tonight?"

The girl looked to Sango with a frown. "Not good. We had to dance in pairs of twenty and I got the back. Hard to be seen when you're under five-foot three, huh?" She stuck her tongue out in between a chuckle. Sesshoumaru looked to her from the corner of his eye in all seriousness.

"By the way, have any of you seen my—" the actor was quickly interrupted with a scowl, and all eyes fell on Inuyasha.

"_No," _he spat, crossing his arms. "And I don't care a rat's ass where he is right now."

Sesshoumaru felt a smug smirk tug at his lips after a whiff. It was not long when the half-breed jumped from his chair with a screech, beet-red, holding onto his rear end. A caramel voice crept up from behind him, making the new-moon hanyou stop breathing, fear written all over his face.

"Why, my dear Inuyasha...You really think that? It's such a shame…"

Inuyasha jumped on the table's surface faster than the next phrase could come, showing his back to everyone. "Back off, you gender freak!" His words were hoarse, trembling as much as his body was. His claw-less hand pointed at the green-and-white-silked offender, shaking. The restaurant waiters dressed according to the continents their meals were served from, but this man's outfit exalted his position as co-owner of the place. The gem-covered sticks that held his hair together glistened as it reflected light, showing half the intensity of his eyes' gleam as they raked Inuyasha over with their lustful glare.

"Have you had your appetizer yet, my sweet, sexy, raven-haired man?" The effeminate-looking assailant licked his lips, as if already tasting the flesh on the hanyou's body.

"Jakotsu, leave the man alone," came a new, joyful voice from behind, and Rin clapped her hands excitedly at the arrival.

"_Bankotsu!"_

A younger male in white and purple silk smiled toothily at her, grinning from ear to ear as he saw her run over to him in open arms.

"How's my favorite girl doing! Miss me much?" He grabbed her and whirled her around in a spin, her hair and his waist-length braid flying in the air from the turn. Both laughed merrily and hugged as if they were two people who have just met after a long absence. Their foreheads met in a private exchange of adoration before Bankotsu turned to bow to the table to address her companions. When he did, Rin continued to talk low to him, giddily, her hands to her back, tying themselves into playful knots. Sesshoumaru had already looked away from the scene, not the least bit amused.

"_Faites-vous bien ?" _

Rin assented happily_**"**__Oui, comme toujours." _

"_Bom, bom. Eu imagino que o theatre nunca foi o mesmo desde que você veio no _spotlight." Bankotsu rested his hands on his hips.

"_Ja. Sie sollten sich mich in meinem nachsten St__ü__ck ansehen. Es ist eine Romanze. Ich habe die f__ü__hrende Rolle__…"_ Rin gleamed with joy; then her eyebrows creased together, her head titling to the side. "_By the way; как Jakotsu находилось в кухне?"_

Her counterpart sighed. "Oh –_плохой, реально. Из-за его... природа, много шеф-поваров отказывала; нанимающ больше женщин как работники, был разрешен случай. За исключением он, он хорош с ножами_. _Sapete."_ A smirk slowly rose to his lips at the last words.

The girl laughed_**. "**__Ik zou het geweten hebben."_

After a thought, her partner dared question her of a personal matter._ "Et votre petit ami ? Comment vous traite-t-il?" _

Rin immediately got red, fumbling over her words in an apparent denial._"Che cosa! Non è mio..."_

Bonkotsu laughed. _"Il n'importe pas. __Votre visage l'indique tout."_ The girl just kept her head down, fighting embarrassment.

As they continued to speak in languages Sesshoumaru contemplated what they could be saying to one another, having understood a word or two from their conversation. Being around Rin long enough to learn a recurring utterance was expected; the girl spoke a new language every day, usually when talking with fellow actors, or trying out a new role in a different idiom to widen her expertise. But other than "yes", "theatre", "romance", "Jakotsu", "what, it's not mine", and "you", the ideas expressed between the two were unrecognizable and too much was left for the imagination. The Daiyoukai frowned.

It wasn't so much what the pair said to each other in secrecy that seemed to leave him uneasy; it was their constant wrapping around the arms and touching. They looked like they belonged together, expressing their care for one another as open as they did. It made them pop out from the rest of the people he'd encountered in the years in an unusual, repulsive way. Then there were the air-kisses on the cheek in public—to him, that was the most unfathomable displeasure he could witness.

The youkai turned to see if Inuyasha's torture brought him some measure of escaping the couple's scene.

"_Let…go…of…me!"_ His brother was currently struggling to pry Jakotsu's arms off the death grip that encircled him, the same hands that were inching near his back and bottom for a possible pinch and grope. Their faces proved to be too close for comfort for the hanyou.

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha," the older man purred, hot trails of his breathe rimming the other's earlobe. "I know you want me…"

The prey clenched his teeth in exasperation. "Ka. _Gome!"_

Bankotsu exhaled heavily, walking over to the other side of the table. "Jakotsu—_down_ boy."

Said man froze, looking toward him with pleading eyes. "Awe. But brother! I'm just having a little _fun_…"

"I don't think he enjoys it as much as you do," he pointed out, his sight falling on the shivering man. Jakotsu whined again, but let go of his grip on Inuyasha's collar, drawing back to retire into the kitchen in defeat.

"That's it. A good chopping will do you good," Bankotsu yelled back to him in a smile. When his brother was finally away, his hand fiddled with the back of his hair.

"Sorry 'bout that, as always." He showed a familiar charisma to Rin's as he apologized to their audience. "Are you ready to order now, fellas? Remember; you can have whatever you want. It's always on the house."

The group responded with dozens of pleads and Bankotsu merely nodded at each, taking mental notes. Inuyasha sat back down on his seat, moving closer to Kagome. Before Sesshoumaru could voice his own order, however, he was interrupted with a raised hand.

"You want the completely rare-cooked meat, right?" Bankotsu asked. The Daiyoukai just stared back in dead silence; everyone present knew by heart the only thing he asked for when he ate in public.

Bankotsu just smiled at him with glee, punching Sesshoumaru on the shoulder in play. "Ha! I love your sense of humor! Such a man!" He turned to walk away, calling back to him, "I'll go kill the cow right now and serve it to you myself!"

Rin waved a good-bye at the retreating man as a low chuckle began to rise from the romantic couple's corner.

In time a small group of men holding trays circled their table, Bankotsu in the lead. He placed a bowl of salad in front of Rin. "Bon apetite."

"Hai!" she thanked him. Sesshoumaru was given what appeared to be leftovers from a chainsaw massacre, hints of parsley leaf adorning it on top. He vaguely nodded his gratitude.

A bald chef came between Sango and Miroku, surprising them with a gush of fire that flowed from out of his mouth. "The _beef ragout _for the lady and the _camaleón a fuego lento_ for the gentleman."

"Th-thank you, Renkotsu."

"My pleasure. Just call if you want to heat things up," he winked.

A short, bug-eyed male presented Kagome and Inuyasha their meals, then taking out a container of some sort from under his garments. "Would you want some…_sauce_ with that oyster, girl?" He grinned in a discomforting way, stirring the yellow fluids inside the glass bottle. "I concocted it myself."

"Not so fast, Mukotsu." Bankotsu slid to their side and grabbed the potion from the cook's hand. "This hasn't gone through poison control inspection yet. Sorry." The short man grumbled in disagreement while Kagome and Inuyasha just looked at each other with wide pupils.

When the trio left, the friends were to free to chat as they pleased.

"So. Do you have any interesting stories for us, Inuyasha? I always love to hear them." Said man tried to hide an uncaring gesture as a curious Sango waited for a reply. He sucked in a mouthful of noodles.

"_Please?"_

Inuyasha knew that the sooner he complied, the sooner he would be left alone. It was always the same thing with him and his brother at the table; their neighbors were very interested in everything they did, and would question them about their days. His scrutiny would end and then would come Sesshoumaru's turn. Inuyasha wondered what he would talk about. The others hushed so he could start.

"The other day there was this family—the mother and step father were both doctors—who had three stories worth of state-of-the-art gismos and on-your-feet maid service. They even had two pools; one per each infidel party, I guess." Kagome huffed exasperated at his assumption.

"So anyways; this twelve year-old kid calls the department about his fire detector going off, and how he can smell smoke. We spotted the fumes and flames long before we arrived on the scene, and the first sign of life we see is his dog coming out of a pile of rubbish, dragging an unconscious body out of the yard, which was a blazing inferno. The damn bastard saved the kid's life." The women present oo'ed, heart-felt from the story. "…But before we were able to get our equipment out," Inuyasha continued, "the roof collapses, and down goes six point seven million dollars worth of concrete and hard-earned fool's money."

Sango swallowed a bite of her beef. "What do you mean?"

"It's a saying we got down town. The insensible couple was stupid enough to leave their son behind while they went out on some trip oversees; it finally gave the kid his chance at burning down the house. Literally." The hanyou smirked at the twist he gave on the rhetorical phrase. "Now the parents are spending their last days of freedom in court because of some "suspicious junk" that was found in the rubble—_by yours truly"_ at this he tapped his nose twice as he proudly puffed out his chest, "and the miserable brat goes to his uncle in London, feeling like royalty. The kid's a genius and ends up happy; 'parents are brutes, and ruin their lives. Serves them right."

"That's so sad," whispered Rin, holding her next fork-full of salad to the side.

"If not mistaken, I think that was the Moto family," Miroku began. "Little Ken had visited the shrine a couple of times, saying how depressed he felt about staying at that big place, all alone. His dog, Sparky, was the only friend he had. I have to say; thank Kami for those animal's souls." His hands clasped together for a short prayer.

"I back you on that, monk," Inuyasha nodded, stuffing more noodles into his mouth. "Thank kami for inus. No one appreciates them enough." Kagome shot the man to her side a hard glare as he drank from his glass.

"Yes. Kirara sure is something," Sango smiled. "Shame your dogs ran away, Kagome, Rin. They were so adorably…Uh…What's the word?"

"Pains in the ass?" Inuyasha almost choked on liquid, his eyes wondering to the ceiling at Kagome's quick retort.

"No…more like…adorably protective of you. Like that time Koga came for your date, and Inuyasha bit his trousers." The woman hid a chuckle behind a hand.

Kagome shook her head. "It's like he never even left," she commented on the mutt version of the same name. "_This _Inuyasha here tries to beat Koga up every time they meet." The man in question harrumphed and crossed his arms.

"I have to. He's a jerk."

"Takes one to know one, baka."

Inuyasha growled. "Wench…"

Miroku looked to the other end of the table. "So. Sesshoumaru. Why'd you decide on leaving the stockbroker's business? I mean, it's like you and your brother—"

"Half," the youkai corrected him sternly, not looking up from his plate.

"…Right… It's like you and your _half_-brother can never decide what you want to do in life. But don't get me wrong; it's a compliment. You try out one line of responsibility and move on to the next thing like there was nothing to it. How is it possible? You can't get the credentials fast enough for the things you do. I mean, first an investigator, then a detective, and now a lawyer? What's your secret? What's your drive?"

"Entertainment." Sesshoumaru stared as the very raw meat on his fork bled, crimson droplets falling to the white plate underneath. Everyone looked away as it was popped into his mouth. Inuyasha cleared his throat to catch attention his away.

"Well, unlike you huma—I mean, _you guys_, us last decedents of our ancient tribe aren't only physically capable of doing just about anything twenty times better than the normal man, but can be equally as intimidating." Sango and her fiancé always had a hard time believing his words. They sounded too much like exaggerations. "You should of lived there with us. You could've learned a thing or two." Miroku did not show interest.

"Take _him_ for example." The hanyou's eyes rolled to point at Sesshoumaru, internally incredulous that he was about to compliment his sibling on purpose. "The defendants always crack in front of him after one look, pleading to go behind bars if it means getting out of his face. Even the non-guilty ones confess to murder after meeting _him._ The bastard's like a demon." Inuyasha smirked. "Now tell me; do we need certification for something we don't even have to use speech for?

"I tell ya, it's a gift. I got bored doing cop stuff 'cause the rest of the officers were fat asses that couldn't keep up on foot and left me to do all the real stuff. And there was no fun in cuffing thieves when two more came up the next day to try the same thing. There was no spontaneity. No action. Ever! No one listened to me when I suggested we should just kill everyone that disobeyed the law to enforce fear on the rest. I said, 'Just kill 'em all. It ain't worth it if they never learn.' I thought it was an excellent idea, but the squadron never stopped looking at me weirdly since. The cowards."

The table was quiet for a moment, the engaged couple in shock. Their eyes went to Sesshoumaru's plate as he continued eating his uncooked food.

Kagome tried to ease the mood by breaking a loud smile. "Yeah. Good thing he's into extinguishing fires now, huh? I tell ya—if he did any more in the unit there would be no employees left to hire! He's capable of filling all positions…"

"Kagome. Why, I'm surprised you think so fondly of me," Inuyasha chirped.

"… With the exclusion of driving the fire engine," she continued, lowering her voice. "Which is hands-off, because he's known for being a speed demon." The hanyou pouted.

"Old people should be thrown off the streets."

"Inu! That's horrible!"

"Well, they should. _Slow pokes."_

"Blaming the elderly for wanting to break a speed limit isn't nice. Besides; Sessh's now into law. You should know better than to break it. He could send you to prison if he had to."

"You know those can't hold me, Rin. And," the hanyou stretched his luck, "my dear older brother would _never_ do such a thing. We're fa-mil-y." Inuyasha looked to his sibling cockily, expecting a death glare of some sort.

Miroku wondered why it was that whenever he made the mistake of not addressing the two's familiarity correctly he was rebutted, and here Sesshoumaru acted like he had not heard Inuyasha at all.

"Feh. Told ya."

Inuyasha's overconfidence was counterattacked with a sting in his leg, which made him flinch and hug it, banging his head in the process. "Gah!" he seethed, falling to the side on the floor. Sango and Miroku looked to one another, assuming a kick had something to do with it. Rin bent over to find part of her roommate's pants sizzle in heat. Kagome made sure to locate the nearest exit in case they had to run.

Inuyasha climbed his way back to the table, baring his human teeth at the lord, who continued to eat as if nothing. "_You… fucking_…It's the new moon! Can't this wait 'till tomorrow, Jack ass! You know this's a bitch on my leg!"

The _Band of Seven's_ refined reverie suddenly came to a halt as their table became the center of attention, hundreds of judging eyes falling on the occupants in disturbance and insult. Kagome slid into her seat to hide her face.

-------------------------------

Little more than an hour later the friends had finished their meals. Miroku wiped his mouth clean in a courteous manner as the women began getting up to leave to the bathroom together.

"Don't be long," Inuyasha warned Kagome, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Or else I'm going to have to leave without you." The other girls giggled, understanding why he acted that way. They went on ahead while Kagome calmed him down.

"Jakotsu has a real liking to him, doesn't he?" Sango asked, not being able to withhold the humor the picture of the fanatic boy climbing atop the heterosexual held. The more women Inuyasha had to hide behind, the greater the odds of him being bothered by Jakotsu were. The restaurant's owner was like water on oil around women.

"Yeah. Poor Jakotsu."

"'Poor Jakotsu'? Don't you mean 'poor Inuyasha'?" The two laughed harder, but Rin secretly imagined the hanyou ripping the human into shreds with his claws, if he were to be touched in a place not even his mother would reach at when he was a child.

After going through the grand doors of the restrooms they began retouching their mascara and lipstick as Kagome came in to work on her eyeliner.

"He's alright now. I told him we'd go for ice-cream later."

Sango, the oldest of the three, walked over to her and nudged her side slyly. " '_Ice-cream',_ is it?" Her tone revealed more sinister thoughts. "Is that what you call it?" The mirror in front of Kagome fogged up from a gush of hot air she let out in surprise.

"No," Rin giggled. "She means that there is no way that Inu would leave her stranded here, even if it meant getting man-handled by his admirer."

Sango shook her head. "Seriously; I thought you loved your man more than that, Kagome. Sure he has…a more colorful language than every other out there, but he _is _still your man. And to leave him all scared and alone with people like Jakotsu running wild in the city is thoughtless. One of these day's he's really going to play for the other team, and then what? Don't come crying back to me."

"I keep warning her too, but she never listens."

Kagome rolled her eyes, just about to touch up her lips. "Stop critiquing my romantic life. It's _fine."_

"It's because you don't have one that we do, Kags." The older roommate's lip-gloss fell into the sink on reflect, a head hair standing on end.

"It's not like we're trying to make you feel bad, Kagome. We just worry you're not ceasing the moment when it arrives. You know; if he doesn't take action, it's then up to the woman to make sure that her needs are met. Break the ice. Nowadays we can't wait forever for a guy to find the guts to ask us out." True enough, even Miroku had been hesitant to some extent in showing his true feelings at first. "Then again…if he still hasn't asked you out after all this time, then there's definitely something wrong about him. Maybe he really is—"

"Don't say it!_ Don't_ say it. Inuyasha is totally interested in me, and I can prove it!" The other two stopped looking at their reflections and turned to the miko. Kagome fidgeted with what she could say next, having just blabbed out words she thought were not supposed to hold meaning to her, or could be evidenced, for that matter.

"Oh—I know about _that,_ Kags," Rin spoke, seeing that the silence in the room was permission for her to butt in. "Duh. So what if he stares at you in your sleep?"

"He _what?"_ Sango gawked. The illumination of the room suddenly dimmed, a lone spotlight blazing on Rin from above.

"_And so what if the colors of his face lose tone at your smile, and when you near him he looks dreamily into your eyes, staring at them left-and-right, back and forth in awe, confounded in their mesmerizing beauty—" _the girl's eyes sparkled as she spoke dramatically into the mirror, similar to when she conveyed a monologue at the attention of a crowd; _"—those same eyes that have him fall into the desperations of the heart (the ones that burn your insides and kill you once over), requiring he fight the animalistic urge to take you then and there, to lose yourselves in warm, welcoming thoughts?"_

Rin's voice fell to a whisper as she graced her lips with her fingers tenderly, her hues mystic and far-off looking.

"_His breath, catching in his throat when his mouth has gone dry; his hands meticulously inching closer in between you two in this slow place in time, wanting to hold on to your maiden locks, caress the softness of your slick chin and neck and virgin chest;_ _his mouth searching slowly, effortlessly, ever so close to your skin, to taste the sweetness of your thick, rounded, plush—"_

"_Rin,"_ Sango chided, stopping anything vulgar from being murmured. Kagome's head was too preoccupied with envisioning the narrated scene to care.

"I was going to say 'lips'," the girl sighed, untouched by her descriptive words. "But yeah, you get the point." She batted her eyes, pleased at their thickness in the mirror.

Sango smacked her lips together, puckering them to relish her finishing touches. "And what about you, Rin? You sure you don't have a 'thing' for Sesshoumaru?"

"Can't say that I have," the girl answered, close to a heartbeat.

"Gees; you always answer so quick and so sure of yourself. Makes me wonder if you two even get along, the way you're always together." Unbeknownst to Sango, Rin looked to the door in silence and frowned.

"Do you want to take him out for ice-cream later, too?" A beaming Kagome received dull looks from her girlfriends, her attempt at making a joke unaccomplished.

--------------------------

Standing near the front entrance of the restaurant, claws in his pockets, Sesshoumaru picked up on the female conversation without problem. It was a usual girl-talk moment, in which he had been denied infatuation from the actor's side. Again. Whenever such an intimate question was asked, Rin would always give the same answer; her words were always spoken in a neutral tone and she never expressed a lie. He could smell it.

The youkai began closing his eyes, waiting for Miroku and Inuyasha to come back from hurrying the women. All males outgrew their patience with females every time. No exceptions.

To his surprise, though, he would not be alone in the wait; none other than Bankotsu appeared to his side, flashing a doggie bag at him from the front.

"So. Was it to your liking?" The human rarely came over to talk to the youkai—especially alone—so Sesshoumaru took this as small talk for something more important.

"It was satisfactory," he vaguely stated. Bonkotsu punched him on the shoulder for the second time that night, and it took everything Sesshoumaru had in his control to cease from hitting him back, with a hint of poison claw.

"That's what I like to hear." Sesshoumaru noted how perfectly white the man's smile was. He was then handed the luxurious bag filled with expensive cow slices, and he feared his talon would let seep venom through it if he was not left alone soon.

"Listen; I need to have a little word with you, Sesshoumaru. Man-to man?" Correcting his use of words would have been pointless, so the youkai merely looked on, hoping it was a very _short_ talk.

But before he could think otherwise, Bankotsu's façade unexpectedly changed; his eyebrows furrowed, his stature seemed to increase, and his bright smile was lost in a tight frown. It was a complete contrast to his former character. The man almost toppled Sesshoumaru in height with his fiery glare alone, which was impossible, the Daiyoukai told himself; he was not that much taller than Rin. The transformed young man then bared his fangs out at him and a daring confrontation took part, unbeknownst to everyone else in the room.

"I know who you are," he accused, his voice more ominous than Sesshoumaru had caught on to before. "And I don't like someone like you messing around with Rin." His words came out of the blue. Not once had they been cross, and now this rebuttal. Being around Rin a lot meant the exact opposite—more jolly attention from the cook.

The space between them closed as his opponent came closer to him, poking his chest with a thick, pointer-finger. For the first time Sesshoumaru felt to be on the receiving end, like prey.

And then the youkai recalled having had similar treatment not so long ago.

Where did all these little people find the courage to stand up to him?

"Don't look at me like you're a know-it-all," Bonkotsu continued, apparently disturbed by his look—which had remained in the same, unmoved expression. The man fought his adversary with further prodding. Sesshoumaru found it became irritating.

"Look—I love Rin, and have to look out for her well-being. What good am I if I didn't?" His thumb and second finger pointed at them correspondingly with each pronoun, the jabbing finally stopping. "I'm telling you now that you're no good for her. Understand? Your influence is harming her. That egotistical, macho attitude of yours does no one good." The Daiyoukai wondered if his inu nature was something he had control over, or if he could blame it on the genes. Either way, this male had no business in judging how or who he was. He knew nothing of his history.

The allegation suddenly took on a different direction, taking Sesshoumaru by surprise. "All I've been getting from you since first I saw you are bad vibes. Believe me—I know about these things. You aren't the kind Rin should be hanging out with. You're evil."

_Tell me about it._

"She may not realize it, but I do. She has too caring of a heart to see right through you. So if you really did care for her, as you try to act like you do, you'd do what's best for her and never see her again." The scent this male radiated screamed murder, and there was reason to think he had finally lost it. Not only did he utter rubbish, but no one talked to Sesshoumaru that way. He did as he pleased.

A pair of golden hues narrowed.

"What is it you're really after, huh? You have no real use for her, and she doesn't need your type. You make her miserable. I can tell by her eyes. She hasn't been the same since you've come into the picture. You're ruining her innocence. Kami forbid you ever harm her I'll…"

As Bankotsu's hands fell to his sides in fists, Sesshoumaru began to envision what type of honorary sword fight the two could start, if the human had his Banryu with him and they were five hundred years in the past. He was informed that this ancient weapon, which had been passed-down in the family for centuries, was massive, and that Bankotsu knew how to use it well. Ever since a child. Rin was attracted to that type, she said. Strong, bold, and _doesn't give a damn about the crap being said in his face…_

"So I'm only going to say this once," the human continued, his young voice still not considered a threat to the older being. "Unless you intend to treat her right, leave Rin alone. If I find her heart broken or her innocence corrupted, you're gonna pay!"

The Daiyoukai looked down at him, wondering if it was time for him to make a speech or bare his own, real fangs at the mortal. The least he could admit to was discovering newfound respect for this creature. He questioned if the grasshopper would make a good toothpick.

The demon did not move once from his spot until his companions came into view from the far end of the room; but before they came into hearing-range, Bankotsu locked eyes with him and said lastly, "I mean it. I have a sword, and I'm not afraid to use it. This ain't a threat; it's a death sentence. Stay away from my Rin."

Sesshoumaru blinked once, lost at how to counter his accusations. This man had no reason to treat him like this. He misunderstood his intentions with the girl, and knew nothing about him or the two's relationship. Most importantly, it was impossible not to make contact with Rin. He had no fault in that.

The youkai knew not what he could say that would make his night any easier. "You _do _know I live with her in the apartment—don't you?"

Silence was his answer, followed by the decreased thumping of the human's pumping organ in the youkai's ears. Then, a _ding_ sounded as the elevator door opened.

Bankotsu's jaw finally dropped. An eye twitched as the blood left his face. "You…you…You're not…_doing_ anything to her—w-with her, are you?" Sesshoumaru smelled the dirty implication in his tone, and the only way he could consider to answer that was with a smug smirk.

_Oh, what a scoundrel he could be. _The least he deserved after not melting the man on the spot.

Just as the group of friends neared them, the desperate restaurant owner rounded up the energy to scream, his bangs and long braid fluttering with his outburst. "Old man!

"_Stay the hell away from my sister!"_

"Bankotsu; what's wrong?" Rin asked, catching his temper from the back, not able to hear his exact words.

"Uh… nothing!" her brother exclaimed, taking the doggie bag back from the youkai's hands. It was dripping from a lime-green stain at a corner, which was odd, since _The Band of Seven_ never used cheap containers. The bag even felt warmer than when Bankotsu last touched it. "I was just…handing Sesshoumaru the remains of your meal. But it's leaking, so I'm going to have to take it back." He exhaled profoundly after coming up with such a convincing excuse.

"Awe, that's too bad," the sibling sighed.

"Hey! But compliments to the chef, as always," Miroku cut in.

"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed. "Bonkotsu sure knows his stuff."

"Isn't it always surprising to find out someone like him can be related to Rin?" Said girl's chin fell in astonishment at Kagome's low blow.

Sango squirmed. "I know what you mean. Everything she touches gets burnt."

"Hey! That chicken was not burnt. It was crunchy!" Rin defended herself of a recent cooking experiment gone wrong, frowning deeply.

"Once she served me milk," Sango continued. "_Milk._ And _it_ was crunchy."

"_It wasn't my fault! I searched! The expiration date hadn't expired!"_

"…And it couldn't even be cut with a knife. I know; I tried it."

"So you fought her food?" Inuyasha snickered.

"And lost," she said, apologetically. The group laughed as Rin harrumphed.

Sesshoumaru could not believe how it was that he had survived his recent dog years without being poisoned first. Of course, he was a toxic man himself, so that had to be it. And if it weren't for the fact that the girl never made her steaks well-done, he probably would have gone without eating. He hated fine-made meals brought over the fire. It tasted too much like human food. He was alone in his gratitude of bad-cooking, however.

"My pleasure, always" Bankotsu smiled, beginning to lead them outside with a bow. "See you next month!" He waved charismatically to the group, but Sesshoumaru saw that he received a cold stare instead when he looked behind him. The man had locked eyes with the Lord, his second and middle finger pointing to his own pupils until bucking at Sesshoumaru's, bringing to mind a snake charging on a rodent.

"_I'm watching you,"_ the protective brother mouthed dangerously. Jakotsu ran up to him from a ways off, waving.

"Inuyasha! Honey! You forgot to say goodbye!" At this the hanyou yelped, beating the rest of the pack to their cars in a sprint.

Miroku shook his head, turning to speak to Kagome. "You know what he needs? _Ice-cream_. We should get some."

--------------------------------

**Translations for Bonkotsu's and Rin's exchange were done with the help of internet websites. They (most likely) are not entirely correct. **

Bonkotsu:_** "**__Faites-vous bien ?"—_ "Are you doing well?" (French)

Rin:** "**_Oui, comme toujours."—_ "Yes, as always." (French)

Bonkotsu: "_Bom, bom__. Eu imagino que o theatre nunca foi o mesmo desde que você veio no spotlight"—_ "Good, good. I imagine theatre has never been the same since you came into the spotlight." (Portuguese)

Rin:_ "__Ja. Sie sollten sich mich in meinem nachsten St__ü__ck ansehen. Es ist eine Romanze. Ich habe die f__ü__hrende Rolle__…"_ –"Yes. You should go see me in my next act. It is a romance. I have the leading role…" (German)— "_By the way; как Jakotsu находилось в кухне_ ?" —"By the way; how has Jakotsu been in the kitchen?" (Russian)

Bonkotsu: "Oh –_плохой, реально. Из-за его... природа, много шеф-поваров отказывала; нанимающ больше женщин как работники, был разрешен случай. За исключением он, он хорош с ножами_."— "Oh— not bad, really. Because of his...nature, many cooks have resigned. Other than that, he's good with knives. (Dutch)—_"Sapete."—_ "You know." (Italian)

Rin:_ "Ik zou het geweten hebben."_ – "I would have known." (Netherlands)

Bonkotsu:_ "Et votre petit ami ? Comment vous traite-t-il?"_—"And your boyfriend? How is he treating you?" (French)

Rin:_ "Che cosa! Non è mio..."_— "What! He's not my..." (Italian)

Bonkotsu:_ "ll n'importe pas. Votre visage l'indique tout."—_ "It doesn't matter. Your face says it all." (French)

---

**Edit:** Much thanks to _LadyAmarra_ for spotting errors in the German translation and pointing them out to me. Yeay!

…I must admit that I, Sugarsweet pie…have noticed the time-span between my last update and this one. It is humiliating. –dies- And then this chap comes and turns out longer than expected. –falls over-

**More thanks:** the "flea dip" comment I inserted after reading an old review a reader sent in for a previous chapter." Thanks to Murdoca for proof-reading the chapter before hand, pointing out all the mistakes I made, and commenting on how to make everything sound better.

If you are so kind to Read and Review, I'd greatly appreciate it.


	19. What is Love?

Disclaimer: Still don't own Inuyasha.

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**Chapter 18: What is love?**

Night was day and day was night; they thrived equally balanced just as life could coexist in a constant, blessed death. The evil and the holy interwove in a harmonious unification, bound by the spell of the temptress' hearty enchantment. There was no past or present— just a floating fragment of the land he sat upon that drifted along the flow of timeless existence. The many became one same thing in a spectacular rebirth, and it made incredible, illogical sense.

Just like his deformed and detached reasoning, the world became this sacred, eternal iniquity, once the melody of her fantastic voice began.

First the magnanimous room had melted willfully into the wide walls, now hanging dryly by them. The floors curled to tighten him into place, unable to move, the ceiling dripping with butterscotch paint. It splashed and ruined the view before him, though the winding and spirals of the lilac and blood red colors that used to dress objects once discernable of the room had already spilled together to create one enormous pool of bliss. Forms of humans became lost in it, their bodies drowning into mixed textures of matter that no longer were. That pool of color came to existence only to serve as the ground she stepped on and overcame, the phenomenon becoming greater the more times she took to the stage.

If little words could capture what her art made his powerful being feel, it was that nothing else, living or breathing, would subsist when she was up there, amongst the clouds of the mortal gods.

"_Don't turn your back on me!"_ sobbed Rin's delicate body. The hair that was thrown across her shoulder was a mess of tangles that needed to be combed; the small hands that held in her fragile, saddened face with fury and hurt trembled. One of them was missing a white glove that had fallen to the floor earlier when she had bit on it in anger. Her teeth sparkled just as white.

And her tongue…

There was something about her voice that, although scorned in devastation and hatred, it ringed with the softest melody in its depths, never letting her fully become this other woman she was portraying.

"I am doing this for you, Scarlet! For the both of us!" The suited man that turned his back to her begging could have been anyone, any performer at all, and yet she would still shine brightest from the two. Everyone said so. Everyone thought so. _He_ knew so.

It was her voice that drew his eyes shut; nothing more could achieve this welcoming ease.

"_There are plenty of men to go to war. Let them be the ones to die an honorable death."_

He could feel the tendrils of it rising from inside her sweet neck and up into the timeless air—they lingered and wavered there until stretching out and feeling him over, starting at the skin at the foot of his earlobe, trailing upward on its curl, and whirling in the arches before flowing through the opening. The tendrils were like fingers, playing with his effeminate stripes, tracing over and over again his moon like two gracious lips were to close in afterward to press against it. Perhaps somewhere lower.

The human finally looked down to her, his eyes cold and far, though his legs seemed to quiver. "Then what would you have me do? Who am I supposed to be if— "

"My husband!" Rin's body rose from the ground as if a weight had been pressed against it the hold time and still was, the waves of her torn and battered dress flailing and scrunching where her hands gripped tight the threaded gown. The russet-haired man that stood before her now saw himself in a knot of arms and heartfelt tears, careful not to let the young woman fall when she threw herself against his chest. His partner squirmed with sentiment in their embrace as his mouth fell and gawked, disbelief and wonder rising to the sparkling, dark spheres just above his nose.

"I…I," Rin's beautiful words found it hard to speak, spilling outwards at her shivering and exasperated gasps of breath. "I love you too much to let you go!"

"But my dearest…" She would not let him win the argument, let alone leave without dragging her along with him into battle. She was too bold of a woman, daring to cling to his leg like a child soon to be without her father in a hanging. "What am I to do with you?" Her hair was brushed once, and then a hand lay upon her soft head, until the lights in the room began to die, a last bulb shining on her milky skin.

"What am I to do with you?" that man asked her again, and this time he was answered with her cheek sliding down his thigh, her arms loosing their iron grasp to hang before holding up her failing weight. The bangs that combed her forehead fell to hide any expression she would make.

A youkai's neck began to lean to the side with an indiscernible push at his chest, gold hues disappearing behind closed lids.

"Don't talk like that." The hoarseness of the utter made the Daiyoukai cringe and feel as if she had whispered it to him from a close distance, though he sat tens of seats away from the stage.

"I would rather dishonor myself if only…if only not to see your lifeless eyes." The young woman hiccupped some more, pulling on the man's collar. He complied with an upturned lip, bending over to cup her chin into his hold, his mouth parting to lean toward her face. Rin desperately awaited his touch; but before they could, the vision of them blurred; then, there was nothing but black.

It was when Sesshoumaru cleared his throat to escape the daze he had fallen into.

There was loud cheering and whistles and claps coming from all over the auditorium as the lights came back on. The room seemed to come to life only then, and the melting of the lilac floors and blood red chairs stilled to form back into lilac floors and rows of blood red chairs.

"Bravo! Well done my little chickadees!" The director was standing from his seat and clapping along with the rest of the cast and technical crew. He had his large glasses off, which usually gave him an insect-like expression.

"Now that's what I want! Passion! Love! Heat! _Heat!"_ He emphasized the last word by howling and curling his thin digits into the palm of his hands as they shook in satisfaction.

He continued to say more but by then Sesshoumaru had gone back to juggling between composing the case he would use for his next appearance in court, and managing his and his brother's investments. Being the super beings that they were, they landed many occupations with high salary (most times because they filled in numerous positions at once without sweat); and currently, a fragment of the earnings of one of them alone could suffice all four of the housemate's needs for that month. The siblings had no use for splurging and the girls were too humble to ever ask for much, so they had much saved in their bank accounts. Administering the two's wealth was a hobby the Daiyoukai liked to take on the side, although none of it was ever used in the end.

All those documents had barely been analyzed once in that evening; it was hard to concentrate on such things when he came as a listener for one of Rin's rehearsals.

After the director appointed the date for their next meeting, a multitude of people gathered around the romantic characters on stage, exclaiming how wonderful they had executed their job and how much they were being admired for it. The Daiyoukai stood and gathered his belongings, and strode leisurely over to join them—or rather break them apart before they suffocated that poor girl of his.

"I mean, totally! You should definitely try out for Beauty's part in that remake of—"

"Oh, you'll surely make the part, Rin!" Neither colleague let the other finish their speech before interrupting and adding in their own bits of praise into the mix.

"Damn, girl! You nail it every time!" chimed another female. She placed a big hand to Rin's back and addressed the male actor. "Nobunaga, you're awesome too!"

"Yeah—too bad you've got a girlfriend. 'Cause if you didn't," this particular girl made a clicking sound of approval with her mouth, "well, _you know."_ There was mild chuckling from the crowd.

"Good thing we're guys," said one of the crew members, his headphones making his head seem twice in size; _"because Rin's available like the pasty sauce that sweetens my noodles." _Said girl smiled uneasily as the man smirked broadly to her and broke their distance.

"Get in line, Manten," spoke another, hugging Rin by her shoulder. "She'll love no other man after our first date, right sugah?" The affectionate male audience around her began to grow, and the inu-youkai reminded himself to stay firm, that he disliked sharpening his nails on such vermin when they could be silenced and drawn away by other means—mainly his unspoken snarl at a closer range.

A sudden, high-pitched scream punctured his hearing before he could get close, though, and any murderous thoughts he had conjured went directed toward the opposite gender.

"Gah! It's Sesshoumaru! Aya!" Now it was him being raised many thin, medium-sized and thick pointer fingers. He braced himself for a good trampling.

First that girl jumped off the stage, stumbling to the floor before darting at his direction with hearts in her eyes and some circling above her crown with wings; then the rest of the hungry pack of twenty to thirty followed. The stampede—with raging dust cloud included—resembled that of nature shows when a horde of gazelle raced toward an oasis in competition. There were clamors of admiration, requestsof love, marriage and "_Can I have your son or daughter or we'll adopt if that's what you want but please, please make me the happiest woman on earth and bed me for kami's sake or I'll die!"_ (Of course they used more graphic and purely vulgar vocabulary, but their assumptions of mating would have not been heeded either way).

Sesshoumaru towered over all the females in an obvious manner, turning all ways at the center to try and find an escape route. Most importantly, he watched out for touchy hands, only experiencing at times like these how it was to be at the other end of Miroku's hazardous presence. He tried not to show it, but the yells, pushing and shoving and _oh dear kami who dared grab me there! _were driving him over the edge. His eyes were like fists on his face, the least amount of discomfort he could show when his ears were about to drain blood from their sockets. It was a miracle he still even had a brain at all.

Then the animalistic attacks began to cease one by one. As the youkai started to come to, he noticed the decreasing volume of the chatter and the falling of the arms, which amounted to the diminishing smell of armpit sweat and excited female.

A path had begun to open for the imposing actress as she came to his side, her face plastered with the thickest of creams and powder. The redness of her lips made them bigger, not plush, and her eyes were not their graceful, almond shape when boarded with black tint. The ministrations done to Rin's face made the youkai want to hold her in his claw and wipe it all off with his thumb, not relenting until it were washed away from her skin. He could imagine beginning with the white of her cheeks. They made her look like a broken, porcelain doll.

"Look Sesshoumaru. Satoshi gave me a rose." He blinked first, and then recognized that Rin had been playing with a flower the whole time, often putting it to her nose to smell. He did not need to do such a thing to perceive its scent from such a close range; but she went and smelled it again, this time closing her eyes, enjoying its aroma as if nothing else smelled as sweet, and as if she already knew he would not do the same and she had to enjoy it for the both of them. The smile about her made the ruby petals shrink in glamour.

At the corner of his mind the youkai unconsciously asked himself who would dare give her a simple, single rose. It stood for such as a meager token. The male odor it also gave off was not pleasing to whiff.

The women around them started to back away almost in a ghostly manner, pulling apart from the two who now shared the center with themselves. The gesture reminded the lord of the paying of respects to someone of greater status; but this was not of the kind of the theatre universe; it felt more like that of a mysterious, female world.

"What do you think of Rin's acting today, Sesshoumaru?" Suddenly he noticed the room around him turned more silent and inquisitive, the leaning in of the bodies of the admiring party making the air less accessible for breathing. He turned to Rin, who looked half interested in what he would say.

"It was…nice." It came out sounding unnatural and awkward. The youkai was not sure how the girl would take the compliment (or at least what he saw to be a compliment, there not being any other word he could use—say, "brilliant" or "majestic") as she took to smelling the rose again. Some girls awe'd disappointingly.

Up on the stage he could hear the men talking about them.

"_Did you see that? He totally doesn't get art."_

"_Why she hangs out with such a dork in the first place is beyond me."_

"_She's clearly on a whole other level."_

"_Tell me about it. You'd think the dude would say something other than 'nice'. No one says 'nice', man."_

"_Nobody knows why Rin's always hanging around him, or where he came from, for that matter; she should have blown him off centuries ago. The guy doesn't even act human, let alone show her the attention a girl like her needs."_

At the instant flash of the demon's eyes toward their direction, the entire group froze in terror, turning into papered drawings with a blank surface, outlined in black on the edges. When the man who was talking last noticed their transformation, he followed their gaze and dropped his mouth when he met with Sesshoumaru's far glare, turning to stone instead.

Then he slowly started to crumble.

The youkai made sure he still had his suitcase with him before telling Rin that they should be leaving. It made her stop enjoying the rose and nod, returning to her dressing room to clean up. While she took her time his mobile phone ringed, and he answered it with little importance.

--------------------------

Sesshoumaru looked down through the corner of his eye at the small frame of the student as they walked on the sidewalk; Rin usually kept to herself whenever doing work related with theater, or when her mind was still occupied with the thought of it. It was discomforting to see her in that character; stuck inside a zone that he could never accustom himself to, no matter how many times she did it. It did not seem fitting for someone so lively. It should be reserved for someone more like…well, him. It hid her particular charm, at times making him believe she was not herself that day. Sometimes it meant she was sick. He hated when she smelled of sickness.

At the continuous chattering on the other line of the phone the youkai cursed inwardly. He was still on that last call, which was stealing the time he was supposed to be occupying with something more meaningful. He wished the human on the other side would learn how to fill him in on the more vital data instead of going into meaningless detail. Before it could go on any further he finally told the man he was going to hang up, which he did in the middle of the other's objection to reconsider.

"Lawyers," he said dully. Rin made no sign that she had heard him. Perhaps her mind was still preoccupied with the evening's play. She still had that rose, he noted; more likely to put it in a vase with water back home, along with the other prized foliage that had survived for days on a bed stand in her room. Yellow; purple; blue and orange; he dreaded flowered gifts that never wilted. They lasted longer while she paid too much attention to things that held no ability to talk back.

His thread of thought suddenly made a pause to register the last idea; and the youkai inaudibly harrumphed.

_Good, _he reflected sarcastically,_ enter into the realm of oxymoron, son of Ino-no-Taisho. _He thought it best to stop thinking.

Through the rest of their long trudge home neither began a conversation. Rin occasionally hummed; but humming was not filling the empty gap between them like it usually could. It made Sesshoumaru narrow his eyes.

Rin was being too quiet. The girl was never quiet for so long with him. The less he made for conversation, the more she would tell him how her day went, how wonderful her practice had gone, and how pretty and beautiful the roses she'd received were. Given, he never answered back, but he was used to having her prattle away without trepidation. Keeping silent was not fitting for her. That was his job.

"You really think the play was 'nice', Lord Sesshoumaru?" Beside him, she caressed the petals of the rose with her cheek, not showing him any real attention. He saw in amazement how the gift almost bloomed at the brush; maybe it was just him. Some things were just impossible. He centered his sight to the front.

_Certainly jealousy over a plant was unheard of, _his inner self thought.

The couple kept going as the question hung in the air; and then…

_Was it really envy what he felt?_

The youkai certainly had no such sentiment present itself previously. Though what was this, this inexplicable knot in his stomach, which felt like someone had grabbed his organs and twisted them to the point where it had him confused of their location? It failed to have a name. Still, he knew it couldn't be something as dark as envy.

This, he managed to identify, was the recurring reaction to inner doubt. But even that explanation was dubious. One thing he was positive about was that it was never pleasant to have, and it occurred more often than not. It always came up on the most frustrating of moments…

He unconsciously stopped in his tracks, looking to the cracks of the pavement. Abstract and subconscious matter became more palpable, he reflected, when one focused on something as firm as concrete.

When the girl noticed he had stayed behind, she did the same, asking him if something was wrong.

Indeed, there was.

Normally he would leave pointless uncertainties alone; but this one had been bothering him too much. To understand why it was Rin pretended to be some soldier's wife, and why it was said that she played the part so well, he needed to know the meaning behind that character; her performance; and, most importantly, that loathed, single rose.

He needed to grasp what this phenomenon was.

"What is love?"

The girl arched her eyebrows and blinked a few times; there was no doubt she was completely confused by his sudden query. The youkai himself wondered just how the subject had come to form as a predicament in his purely demonic reasoning.

Sesshoumaru followed the indescribable appearance of the girl's face and read the posture of her tensing body, as Rin either stepped out of her stupor or reasoned with what to say next. He was relieved when he noticed her loosening up. Her hair visually gained a softer texture, her complexion relaxed and full of color. He found himself staring.

She thought on it long enough. Then, as if it was a question too difficult to answer, or to simple to enrich, she replied to him with one of those grins that could only be associated with her divine innocence.

"It's a smile," she said, like it were indeed that true. "It's a smile because you're happy." Her head was to the side, and she looked to him with those clear, russet hues in all sincerity, as if she knew the secret to the pinnacle of happiness, and was consciously withholding valuable information from him.

What she had said was pretty easy to understand, although most of the translation of human emotion was still lost in the midst. Perhaps that was why Rin took her time in her response. Maybe she knew he would never understand it, could never understand it, and chose to explain to him with the simplest of replies.

So, if it was not a complete explanation, could he take it as a good definition?

Well, _she believed in it,_ Sesshoumaru reasoned, so he thought it was true enough—though it did leave a sour taste in his mouth.

He could think of no moment alive in which he had smiled; and so he wondered if there was a time in his life that he had ever been truly content. Most likely not. It must be why it was so hard to comprehend "happiness". That and he had yet to find the use of sentiments, so he made no effort in trying to identify them. Why the girl he was with could have them and be this lively was mystifying. He heard one could die from too much or too little emotion.

"_Holy Buda! The end is near!"_

The pair turned to their right at the exclamation, noticing they had inadvertentlyended up at the front yard of an immense temple, which was holding an occidental, religious service. More howls followed.

"_God forbid this disgrace! I can feel the most devilish aura surrounding our sacred palace!"_A powerful tenor preached fulfilled prophecies into the loudspeakers, apparently the leader of the flock._ "May the Lord have mercy on His poor servants!"_ Frantic cries erupted from the building, worshipers repenting their sins and pleading for forgiveness in chorus.

"_Time has come for us to pay for leading such pagan lives! The devil has descended on our grounds, come to take away our souls! Pray, pray, pray that our spirits shall be saved from condemnation to an eternal hell!"_

"_The devil has come! Oh the horrible aura! The air is filled with his evil!"_

"_Mother of Buda!" _Thefirst set of participants began screaming and running out the front doors of the location, their arms flapping about with traumatic, cawing cries. Rin and Sesshoumaru met each other's gaze in suspicion. Something about their timing was very peculiar.

"_Redeem yourselves! Redeem your souls, you pagan fiends!"_ A man came running out of the sacred structure and began hollering to the streets that all would meet a gruesome afterlife, his face almost whiter than a corpse's. _"I feel him coming! He's here, I tell you! The devil! The horrible son of hell!"_

The pair continued to watch the man until he disappeared into another block, a larger group of people swarming out of the building after, some launching themselves onto open traffic. _"The headmaster felt so himself! The demon has come to take us away!"_

Rin winced at the shriek of car horns and the numerous wheels that screeched to a halt on the asphalt road. Vehicles began mounting one atop another once they couldn't stop soon enough, and a broken pipe blew up gushes of water at a bus's impact as it swirled out of the way of a bicyclist who had lost control over his pedaling.

"_Be merciful! Be merciful!"_

The girl yelped and grabbed the lord's sleeve with a yank, preparing for a sprint. Then a familiar voice called to them, and the two saw Miroku in purple robes at the front steps of the building, sighing at the commotion.

"You tell them you feel a demonic presence and you get this," he shook his head as he witnessed the catastrophe in the streets. The youkai wondered what a monk was doing lecturing to anything else but Buddhists.

"I whisper to the headmaster of demonic presence, and here he goes, scaring the life out of all these people by preaching about it. _Last time _I'll _attend an invitation," _he added low.

The monk now spoke directly at the couple. _"_Imagine if I'd told them that months ago when I first witnessed the aura." He took his chin into his hand and looked like he was weighing a thought in his mind. "…Actually, it was right about the time when I met you guys, Sesshoumaru." He blinked. "As a matter of fact…"

The Dai-youkai's claw saw this an opportune moment to grip his suitcase firmly, lest it have to be used as a weapon for knocking someone unconscious to the point of memory loss.

------------------------------

This chapter is meant to correlate with the next chapter, titled, "It is a Gift." Funny how I never manage to write less than fifteen pages; I have to keep separating things. Because this one's edited better than the second (pertaining Inuyasha's character) I cut them up (ouch) and sent this one sooner. It'll come out in less than a week. Didn't mean to leave our favorite hanyou out.

Read and review, please. D


	20. It is a Gift

Disclaimer: Same as always. Never owned an inu.

**Warning:** Expect "colorful language" from now on until the end of the story. Blame mostly hanyou-talk.

**Note:** This chap accompanies the mood in chap 18, and occurs on the same day. Both are important for future happenings in the story. Enjoy.

-----------------------------

**Chapter 19: It is a Gift**

On the other side of town and on a later hour, Inuyasha walked through the park with his sights to the ground. His hands were in his pockets, and his work helmet fit loosely to his cranium. The black straps that were supposed to cover his chin hung freely where human ears were supposed to be; in their place forelocks drooped charred. His face was smoked, and his uniform battered. The rest of his gear was back at the station, but he was not quite sure why he had decided to stroll around with the department headpiece on. His head felt heavy enough as it were.

_Her hair, _he sighed.

_Her dress..._

_Those eyes…_

Everywhere he turned to he saw that face. There had been a couple in one of the houses he had to save today from a fire, but only one of their faces seemed to enjoy replaying in his mind. It was unnerving. Nothing he did could make him stop thinking of it.

_Her ghostly, peaceful look..._

The hanyou stopped in the middle of the winding path to observe the silhouette that wavered on the surface of a puddle of water. A gust of wind blew upward from behind, shaking the branches of the trees just loosing their leaves for the season. The colors of the growing night sky looked grey through his vision in between the wood; the, it turned dark and black, and the hints of fall ignited like the flames themselves, carried by the breeze's hand, reflecting on the surface of his pupils with a dance…

_-----------------------------------_

"…_Hey! Is anyone here!" _Debris fell from all places, offering Inuyasha little room to jump over wreckage, at times obligating him to turn and find another route in his search for life.

That whole week entire blocks had been encased with the most questionable appearances of wildfires, suspected to be the work of some demented, human hand. Inuyasha knew there were still families trapped in the last two houses of the neighborhood they had been treating, but the homes had become too dangerous for venturing, him being the only rescuer daring enough to try out his luck.

"_If you can hear me, shout! I'm right here!"_ He was currently in one of the structures; his fear of arriving too late for the other house left him as he reluctantly acknowledged its fate. As immortal as he could try to think he was, having been on the field for over two days now without rest would bring his burning body to its climax. He might not make it in time for this family, let alone the other. _"Hey!" _And every time he called out, his voice seemed farther and weaker.The crackling and explosions that erupted in his ears were deafening.

Another loose chemical busted to a corner of the room, sending more thick fumes into the air; he gagged. The smoke stung his lungs twice as fast as they would have for any other fireman. He tried his hardest to breathe sporadically, his arm covering his mouth and nose, gas mask empty.

_Smoke...Air...It's all so dark... _Inuyasha threw a plank of wood to the side and recoiled at a hot spot. He turned to move more rubbish aside before getting bit by a crackling light bulb from above.

Amidst the hellish surroundings, the hanyou's mind kept him awake and alert by blaming himself for not finding anyone—that he should have been wearing the robe of the fire rat that day; but the robes had been used too much already that week (they would serve as the better shield against the blaze, hidden under his uniform), and could have ruined if he were to put them on before he was able to restore them full. If only it weren't so, finding the humans then would have been little effort. It felt pathetic. The helplessness of his situation seemed to hurt more than the heat.

The atmosphere only grew thicker the further he got into the home. Unknown gas exploded from several pipes; half of the third floor of the other home fell to crash upon this other; it made the ground he stood on sway and become unstable. The fabrics that were once curtains for the windows fed the flames as they rose higher onto the infected ceiling and out into the exterior. Coughing louder and only getting even more fumes into his lungs, Inuyasha pushed away walls that had fallen down, and furniture that was charred and indiscernible from the gassy heat and red and orange hot lighting. Room after room had him tumbling over things that fused to the floor as they boiled. The air looked like waves, running over the surface of anything he could look to, changing them, constantly bending them. He started to feel—or imagine, he could not tell the difference between the two things anymore—his protected soles deteriorate, layers of material melted off and high temperature begin to scratch at the base of his feet. His coat had already let in air that burned at his body's skin.

Everywhere he turned there where more smells of things that had exploded or scorched, and a growing sense of bodily corrosion—most of it coming from him.

"_Come on!"_ he yelled again. He was desperate. He could barely see, had barely been able to see for a long while, but his companions awaited him from the outside, constantly yelling to him _"mad man!"_ and _"get out of their while you can!"_ Gritting his teeth made him aware of the numbness in his mouth. The cries were encouraging, but Inuyasha incessantly wished they would stop yelling so he could better make use of his hearing.

"_Hello! Can anyone hear me!"_ All common sense pointed out that it was useless to call out, for the people inside would most likely already be dead; but he would not give in—he was a stubborn hound, for crying out loud. So he trudged on.

"_Hey...!_" He kept his arm to his face, although it barely allowed him visibility, and hardly worked as a barrier against the blaze. He faintly recognized he was walking in circles, leaning to his left side. He had injured it while trying to lift a truck before."Damn this hell! Where the fuck is everyone!"

At the sound of another large crash to his back, which shook the floor boards, the hanyou's legs finally wobbled, and his hand landed on something afire to break the fall; but even then it did not seem to hurt.

The thinning air and his steaming body forced his lids to shut—he could not decide what to do at the moment; he'd rather rest. He was tired. Very. Enough not to want to think. So his unconsciousness spoke for him.

…Maybe if he had no feeling in his entire being, he could look for these people all he wanted. All he wanted, until he too fell dead.

_Until he fell dead…_That sounded wonderful._ Because then he could…_

…_No. He should leave while he still can…_

…But he just _had_ to see them. _Alive…Dead…_

_They were dead, he knew that, but if only he could see them, then…_

He was slipping, or was already gone, a part of him registered; but Inuyasha was insistent. He was going to try, damn it. _Just a little more, a little bit more…_

The wooden floors underneath him started to cover his feet like sand; he could feel himself sinking. It was a soothing feeling; like a blanket over soar feet.

Then…something was in that sand, or rather, lay on it. His eyes opened, and the hanyou then realized he had closed them to doze.

_It was them,_ he faintly recalled. The family. He had found them. His eyes wondered painfully to look to his feet in trepidation. What Inuyasha saw gave him the last bit of energy he needed to stir awake and move.

A young man and woman lay serenely amongst the rubbish, the wooden surface under them as clean as day. A new born was wrapped in a bundle of blankets inside the protection of their arms; the three still seemed to be awaiting rescue, he contemplated, shivering.

Then the hanyou swore he could have seen the baby moving, and the woman's face pressing lightly to him as if to comfort the inaudible crying that would start. Her hair was so elegant, he admired, even as it began sizzling as pebbled-sized sparks chipped it when landing on it. The glow of her night gown folded itself to cover the small creature, and she could have been just sleeping—just sleeping with it—the manner of her rest reminding him of that woman he often watched at night for hours at a time. He felt the babe stifle and calm.

The image of the three's portrait lasted far less than he wanted it to, their clothing and bodies singed and devastated when he finally bat his eyes at their dryness.

At the second wink, they were gone.

---------------------------------------

It was all hazy now; maybe none of it happened at all. And if the chief had not met with him half way out of that awful place, he…

He did not want to think of it. It was irrelevant now. He had survived—in fact, had already been given _many_ second chances in life—and would finally act on his instincts even if it killed him from the inside. Inuyasha had lost that which he cherished most once already because he took for granted the frailness of mortal life; he wouldn't let that happen again. He wouldn't be able to survive the separation. This female soul he watched over in its sleep was just like the one half a millennia ago; the one he could not save. So while the body was different, his self would rest at ease knowing he could be able to fulfill his promise of protection and salvation to at least one of the two.

It was settled.

Inuyasha would set out to do what he could not fulfill back then, and hope this other woman would permit him such an honor.

…Now, if only he would cease from turning into a puddle of puppy goo when expressing his rightful feelings toward her, his idea might—just might—work…

The hanyou's long stroll had brought him to a window at a place in town, one with glistening gems on the other side of the glass panel. They were displayed on tiny black rings and shelves of every kind, sparkling every which-way one turned to look at them. As small as they where (even he had to admit), they looked grand.

His hands pressed against the glass, immediately retracting as their contact made the peeling skin of his palms rip. He preferred leaning with the help of his forehands instead, letting his bruised forehead drop on the surface as the helmet finally came off with a sharp crack to the ground.

He stayed there for a while, thinking of all the possible reactions he would get after getting one of these jewels for Kagome. He knew she had mentioned of them to Rin one time they were out together. Every girl liked their little rocks, and it served as a perfect gift for the conversation that would soon ensue.

Inuyasha's gaze roamed for the one his companion said she had liked, his chipped ears stirring in excitement whenever he thought he'd found it.

Then, after going in and doing his business, the rest of the trip home Inuyasha was ecstatic. The more he tried to keep his joy in, the more it showed, and the more curious comments he received about his demeanor in his travel to the apartment building.

It could not be helped. All he had to do was present his girl with this token he held in his hand and she would instantly understand what it meant—his feelings, his intentions, his….his happiness! Even if he himself had no clue as to what to call it (or rather did not want to admit what this advancement was), _she_ would know, as all girls would with their sixth and seventh senses, and the present would do all the talking for him.

When the hanyou arrived at the front door of his shared apartment, he stood there for what felt like forever, a sudden tug at his insides giving him second thoughts, which spoke to him in conversation.

_Maybe this was too much._ Maybe he was going too fast_. But he had wanted to do this for months now…_So he had to do it. _Yes._

What was it again?

The hanyou inhaled the deepest puff of air he had ever taken into his chest all at one time in his life, forgot to exhale, and then let it go before he turned anymore purple. This was it. He was going to open the door.

…Maybe he should ease up the mood by bringing humor into the situation? Yes. Humor was good. Humor _was good. _It was perfect for easing his nerves. Wait. Why was he nervous about _this?_

Introducing his key into the keyhole, the tiniest breath escaped his mouth once more, and his hand went for the doorknob until he was inside the house with an enthusiastic entrance and a toothy grin.

"_Who missed me!"_

He cut his cry short, though, and a frown framed his face, preceding a growl. Instead of a hearty response to welcome him home, there stood Sesshoumaru, conveniently blocking all line of vision with his stature, with the kind of dead expression that felt as if his eyes would drill into one's skull. They had almost bumped into each other.

"Do you want to test just how I'm infatuated with you, little brother?" the full-youkai tested in an interesting, half-murderous tone. Inuyasha wondered what could have possibly gotten him into such a good mood; he had showed no signs of becoming a physical threat to him—yet.

"Uh, 'Kagome around?" The encounter vaguely made Inuyasha forget what it was he had needed her for.

"No," the other fairly blinked. Then, after a moment of silence, "you look like hell; and you smell like it, too."

"Thanks," Inuyasha bit back. "A compliment coming from someone who's worse day is getting a paper cut." Sesshoumaru almost pursed his lips.

Rin came from out of her room shortly after, fake reading glasses propped at the bridge of her nose and script in hand. Inuyasha often pondered what kind of supernatural ability she harbored that would allow her to share the company of his sibling willingly.

Then he revaluated the position he was in—still just two chests apart from the other youkai—and took three whole steps back into the hallway.

"Ah! Inuyasha! You're finally here! I'm so glad." Cheerful as ever. "They were saying such awful things about the fires that I was worried about you."

"Tch. You don't have to worry about me. I'm 'Inuyasha', remember?" he reassured, now brought to a lighter mood. His sibling huffed and went back to his papers. Inuyasha wondered what in hell he had been doing standing at the door, anyways.

"Oh Sessh! Weren't you going to pick up that package at the front counter?" At Rin's reminder, the Daiyoukai stood up just as he had been sitting down at the dinner table, reluctance just barely observable from the quick twitch of his eyebrow. Inuyasha shrugged. He needed to know where Kagome was.

"Oh…she's out," Rin smiled. "She's finishing up some stuff at her office in the university." That made the hanyou grunt. This was a predicament he hadn't expected to encounter.

"You think she'll be long?"

"I'm not sure," the girl wondered. "But don't worry; she's in good hands."

"Of course. She's with that Houjou scholar." At Sesshoumaru's input Rin jumped, quickly waving her arms in wide, crisscross angles at him, as if he shouldn't have said what he had said. And if the lord were one to shrug in unimportance, he would have shrugged twice.

Inuyasha snarl annoyed. "'That… _Houjou_…scholar'?" His right claw cracked involuntarily.

"Yes. Houjou. The man that works with her." The demon cleared up any confusion Inuyasha might have had, even though they were details his little brother already more than knew. "If you have yet to recall his person, I would be generous enough to say more."

_So caring of him, _the hanyou measured. _He should get a medal._

"Asshole."

Inuyasha turned away, too many notions erupting in his thinking to have him concentrate on even one. Rin began begging him to forget about the comment, saying that "it wasn't true, _er, maybe it is, _but it doesn't mean anything;" but the hanyou did not heed her words or encouragement and closed the door in his brother's face, who was about to leave the apartment to go downstairs.

As the half-demon made his way to the other side of the hallway, he faintly heard the girl say something about "that wasn't nice, Lord Sesshoumaru" and a "Hn" from his brother, who took to reading his papers again.

Inuyasha, surprisingly, felt a small, canine whine form inside his throat. He had no idea what to do now. There was no way of knowing when Kagome would be home, and this was not a matter that could be dealt with over the phone. He leaned against the wallpapered corridor, thinking if he should leave it for another day; but instead of deciding to clean up and get ready for bed, he went to sit on the floor, half imagining he would find Kagome coming home early and at any minute.

He was not sure of how much time passed—though he could have waited until next week in that same spot just to see her return. Something about that ethereal couple in the fire reminded him of things that aren't immortal like him, that they would at any instant fade away; that he, too, would eventually grow old, and would have nothing to hold on to but memories until he perished or managed to witness the birth of another reincarnation.

_The present kept slipping past his fingers._ There was the sulking of the past and the fear of the next day, of not making a move to take that woman and finally keep her safe; to finally stop her from escaping his reach and loosing this soul before it housed a third body. He had to end this chase after a ghost. He _had _to see her. Right now, in this space and time, he had to claim her and no one else. Thus the unrelenting wait.

At the edge of his hearing Inuyasha had noticed a pair of small feet had made their way to him, halting just inches away to observe his apparent idle thinking. "What are you doing, mister?" an equally small voice accompanied the small age of the inquirer. "You look tired. Are ya sad? It's because you were in a fire. You're a fireman, right! Did someone die?"

The hanyou's eyes went to his face. This little kid looked too young to be about in the apartment by himself. And what was with the big, hair ribbon? "What's your name? Can you talk?Huh, mister!" the kid piped, growing excited for some reason.

"Inuyasha," he half-heartedly blurted, ears flattening on his skul under the helmet. He hoped the squirt wasn't in a curious mood.

"'Inuyasha'?," the child pondered, a tiny hand holding his chin as he contemplated the ceiling. "Well that's a stupid name." The hanyou's eyes grew at the unexpected response.

_Pups. Gotta hate 'em, gotta have 'em._

"It's a dumb name, if you ask me. Why'd your parents call you that?"

Inuyasha grumbled. _Where in hell were his guardians when you needed them?_ "None of your business. What's _you're_ name, anyway?" The boy had to be either a visitor, or had just moved into the complex.

The child folded his arms, lifting his chin. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Then why are you still talking to me?" the hanyou retorted, annoyance notable in his voice.

"I'm bored," the boy stated in a long sigh. "There's nothing to do."

Inuyasha asked himself if he appeared to be some sort of amusing attraction. The hanyou said nothing, and showed no objection to being joined by this new company as he sat on the floor close by.

"So," the kid spoke again, not too long after; "what's in the box?"

Inuyasha looked to the thin, black box he had been holding. He had forgotten about it. "It's for a girl," he said, mildly surprised he spoke the simple truth for once, instead of deliberately changing the subject to avoid being interrogated on delicate matters.

"A girl, huh? Is she nice?"

"Yeah. She's really nice."

"And…is she pretty?" Inuyasha turned to look at him, astonished that the kid was proving to be a reasonable chatting partner. The hanyou felt that he could be completely honest with him. Children were, in fact, supposed to understand the matters of the heart without much effort, and did not question or reject them much. Perfect.

"Very. Very Pretty." Simple yet communicative responses. What every hanyou needs.

"So—she your girlfriend?"

He stuttered, feeling his cheeks go warm. "I-I-I…uh…"

"That's a no," the boy concluded, his eyelids falling halfway in suspicion, making his two emerald orbs thin out. "So, you gonna ask her to? Does she even _like _you?"

The hanyou froze. The company was starting to make him nervous and worse—question if his deep, caring feelings were, in fact, returned, which was a predicament; after all, since these issues always worked both-way.

"…I'll take that as a no, too." Inuyasha barked in objection at the supposition.

"You don't know me! And you don't know her! So what makes you think that!" The boy had unconsciously and unofficially become his personal match-making, fortune-telling expert, so Inuyasha needed to know his thoughts, his answers, and his experience in the thing called "love." His fate hung in the balance.

The other seemed to think of himself as such as well, straightening his shoulders with an all-knowing expression.

"Well, if you're so ignorant of her feelings, than it must mean she's_ totally_ not hot for you." The hanyou growled low, itching to pick up the helmet on his head.

"Then again," the little tyke continued, spreading his arms to either side in reasoning, palms up; "no man alive knows how women think, so asking you about it would be like asking a rock to float." The hanyou calmed down at that.

"…Though your pretty ugly for a guy. I mean, even you name is weird. 'Inuyasha'? Ha!"

The squirt squealed as he noticed what was about to be thrown at him, his little legs carrying him as far as the exit stairway as a heavy piece of headgear bounced behind him for the kill. The boy panted when he was sure it had stopped pursuing him, the force of the attack enough to have caused a crack in the building. The boy gulped as he crouched to look through it, finding only night skyline at the end of the hole. He whirled to face the assassin.

"You crazy lunatic! What was that for!" The boy shivered as a tear inflated itself at the rim of his eye, a canine tooth protruding from his upper jaw. But before Inuyasha could hurl toward him something else, his short-memory had fixated itself onto a different object, incredulous.

"And _what the heck_ are those things on your head!"

"Go away, brat!" Canine ears twitched.

"Just because your girlfriend hates you doesn't mean you can take your anger out on me!" The boy reached into his back pockets and took out a spinning top, jerking a plastic rod through it with his other hand. Yelling _"Let it rip!"_ as he jumped to add force to the attack, he flung the toy like a projectile toward the hanyou; it bounced off the walls until landing on Inuyasha's knee without harm.

"Bull's eye!" The child rejoiced, though had to squirm against the wall when a boot was thrown his way as a formidable counter attack.

"Oh yeah? Well, take _this!"_ A jump rope was hoisted about in the air like a regular Indiana Jones, and the kid lunged for an assault. _"Hiya!"_ Soon, Inuyasha found his arm being wrapped around by the cord in a snake-like grip.

"Stupid kid!" He bent to go for his other shoe next.

The boy stuck his tongue out, making a face. "Nah nah! You can't catch me!"

"Wanna bet!" The hanyou pounced for the hunt, and the battle across the floors of the building was on.

-----------------------------------

"_Hello…" A silky voice called out._

"_It's dark here..._ _Kinda cold…" The young woman felt lost; there was no light visible. She walked everywhere, but did not manage to find an exit way. "Where…?"_

"_Hello…" it went again, this time closer, from behind. She gasped as the vibrations that reached her neck strung the insides of her throat._

"_Eh!" She whirled._

The girl's eyes shot open after her physical body jumped in reaction. She caught her breath; the goose bumps were still chilling as she scanned the room for what could be the source of such ghastly sound, but she found nothing. She was alone.

Kagome had heard it before many times, but could never recognize who it belonged to. It was strange. She tried to mimic the sound in a un-manly-like, grave tone, her lips puckered.

"_Hello...Hello…"_

"Hello, Kagome?" She swiveled in her whirling chair to catch Houjou at her office doorframe. Though he looked sorry for interrupting her, she felt most embarrassed.

"Forgive me—I didn't know you were sleeping. There was something I had to give to you today before you left, so I…took the liberty to open the door when you didn't answer the first five times."

"It's aright. And I'm glad it's only you," she said cheerily, grateful that there was another human in the building. "For a second there I thought some guy with a chainsaw was out to get me." She laughed, referring to her dream, almost fearful of the image (and surround-sound wailing of spinning, metal teeth) it brought to mind. Houjou did the same, but stood confused.

"Well, I'll assure you I'll protect you against any demons that might come to you at night," he mused, his charismatic grin beaming. If he had been wearing a blue coat and metallic armor then, his white stallion back at the stalls, befitting the title "prince charming" would be even more effortless.

"Of course," she thanked him. He handed her half a dozen files, some still dusty, other quite decrepit. Kagome stared down at them in all silence for a while.

"You…sure you're alright?"

The girl widened her eyes a few times, and then blinked forcefully, adjusting to the transition from being in a state of sleepiness, to one close to alertness.

"Yeah. I'm fine." A yawn escaped her mouth unexpectedly.

"Don't tire yourself so much, Kagome." The man always did know how to say her name with sweetness to it that no one else could mirror. "If you don't mind me saying this, I think it would be best if you went home." Then, he made a short pause before, "Want me to take you home?"

Kagome nodded at the first, shaking her head at the second. She was tired, and she really wanted to go home. If he hadn't just awoken her from her nap, she could have stayed for an all-nighter again. The cocoa he handed to her afterward on account of the air-conditioning helped her weary eyes; Houjou always knew what she needed. She drank it in two gulps.

After he left her Kagome prepared to leave, her coat in hand along with many files and bags. She groaned at the weight of the reading material, but said eagerly, "Jewel, here I come." She bit down on the cup of cocoa with her teeth, walking backwards through her door to cast one last view of her private place in order to make sure that she had gotten all her luggage. She already had her keys out, thinking to start the car quickly, and with them she locked her student office when the lights were tuned off.

The room became quiet once she left. It remained as such no sooner a crack of light seeped in from the entrance, as Kagome appeared and moved toward her desk, lights on, letting her possessions fall on it and on the seat. Her feet planted themselves in place as she absorbed with curious eyes what it was she had missed earlier.

On the far end of the room there was an arrow, pierced through the surface of an open scroll, nailing it to the wood of her bookcase. Her mouth opened into an "O" out of intrigue.

"Did Houjou do this…?" He was always giving her papers for her Feudal Era research when she least expected.

The bottom half of the old parchment lifted as if wind had graced it.

Hands reaching for it, she went over for inspection.

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Sorry for not uploading sooner. Let's just say upon editing, I realized what they meant by "Less is more." Sigh. I also un-italicized much text, since past chapters have been criticized for lengthy flashbacks. Sorry 'bout that.

Read and Review! And Happy Holidays, everyone.


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